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ILL  HIST.  SUR* 


THE  STORY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://archive.org/details/storyofillinoisOOpeas 


The  Story  of 
Illinois 


BY 

THEODORE  CALVIN  PEASE,  Ph.  D. 

Author  of 
Vol.  II ",  Centennial  History  of  Illinois 


CHICAGO 
A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 

J925 


Copyright 

A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co. 

1925 


Published  March,  1925 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 

M.    A.    DONOHUF.    &    CO.,   PRINTERS    AND    BINDERS,  CHICAGO 


(Ho 


PREFACE 

This  volume  is  an  attempt  to  present  a  short 
readable  history  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  embody- 
ing the  results  of  the  latest  research.  Naturally 
it  is  based  to  a  considerable  extent  on  the  five 
volume  Centennial  History  of  Illinois,  but  for 
most  of  the  period  covered  by  the  volume  the 
body  of  source  material  has  been  carefully  ex- 
amined. Still,  my  indebtedness  to  the  other  au- 
thors of  the  Centennial  History,  especially  to  Pro- 
fessor Clarence  W.  Alvord,  will  be  apparent  to 
anyone  who  is  acquainted  with  their  work.  I 
have  also  to  express  my  gratitude  to  Dr.  Otto  L. 
Schmidt  for  encouragement  and  kindly  criticism. 

THEODORE  CALVIN  PEASE 

October  8,  1924 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 


I     The   French   Regime i 

II     The  Day  of  the  Briton 23 

III  The  American  Conquest 46 

IV  The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest,  1783-1816     68 
V     The  Day  of  Small  Things 96 

VI     The    Frontier 117 

VII     Jacksonian  Democracy 147 

VIII     The  Expansion  of  the  Frontier   Common- 
wealth,   1830-1846    169 

IX     The  Coming  of  the  Railroads 190 

X     The  Beginnings  of  the  Slavery  Issue,   1837- 

1856    214 

XI     The  Climax  of  the  Slavery  Struggle,  1856- 

1865     233 

XII     The  Civil  War  and  Its  Aftermath,   1861- 

1868 : 255 

XIII  Economic  and   Social  Readjustment,    1870- 

1890 271 

XIV  Two  Decades  of  Party  Politics 293 

XV     Recent   Political   Development 305 

XVI     The  World  War 320 

XVII     The  Illinois  of  the  Present. 342 

Appendix   3^7 

Vote  for  Presidential  Elector,  1824 369 

Vote  of  Illinois  for  the  Presidency 372 

Vote  for  Governor  from  181 8  to  1920.  .  .   373 
Population  of  Illinois,  Each  Census,  1790- 
1920 378 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Illinois   Statehouse    Frontispiece 

Statue  of  Marquette ,. . . .        4 

Henri  De  Tonty 12 

Statue  of  La  Salle. . . 24 

Edward  Coles 32 

George  Rogers   Clark 52 

Old  State  House 86 

Mr.   Shadrack   Bond 102 

Mrs.  Shadrack  Bond 108 

Capitol  at  Vandalia 128 

University  of  Chicago 140 

Chicago  in  1843 160 

Black  Hawk 1 72 

Thomas  Ford   184 

C.  H.  McCbrmick 200 

Caricature  of   Douglas 222 

Stump  Speaking   236 

Lincoln    252 

Statue  of  Stephen  Douglas 268 

Ninian  Edwards 290 

John  P.  Altgeld 302 

University  of   Illinois 358 

MAPS 

The  Old  Northwest 72 

Sketch  Map  of  Illinois 284 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  Illinois  of  the  present  may  be  under- 
stood only  as  the  product  of  the  past.  On 
the  basis  of  a  physical  environment  made  by  past 
geological  ages,  the  state  has  arisen,  an  edifice  of 
political,  industrial,  and  social  organization,  to  be 
comprehended  only  through  a  study  of  the  plans 
and  methods  by  which  the  successive  generations 
have  built  it  tier  by  tier.  In  York  Cathedral  in 
England,  beneath  the  present  fabric  illustrating 
the  successive  Gothic  styles  of  four  centuries,  are 
shown  the  crypt  of  an  earlier  Norman  church  and 
the  foundations  of  a  still  earlier  Saxon  one.  Sim- 
ilarly the  story  of  Illinois  necessarily  includes  as 
well  the  failure  of  both  France  and  England  to 
solve  the  problem  of  empire  in  the  heart  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  as  the  final  success  in  the  task 
of  the  United  States. 

Nor  can  our  study  be  confined  too  closely 
within  the  geographical  limits  of  present  day 
Illinois.  State  boundaries  are  at  best  but  arti- 
ficial things,  and  things  of  a  late  day.  French- 
man and  Englishman,  pursuing  their  imperial  am- 
bitions in  the  Great  Valley,  did  not  parcel  out 
their  visions  according  to  the  limits  of  our  present 


Introduction 


may  pass  it  most  easily,  lying  athwart  the  easiest 
paths  which  man  may  travel  from  east  to  west, 
she  and  her  great  market  at  Chicago  stand  at  the 
cross  roads  of  world  trade  such  as  those  which  in 
earlier  ages  made  Vienna,  Constantinople,  and 
Damascus.  Shaped  like  a  rivet  interlocked  at  the 
head  with  the  commonwealths  of  the  North  her 
point  drives  deep  into  the  states  of  the  upper 
south.  In  earlier  days  Tennesseean  and  New 
Yorker,  Virginian  and  New  Englander,  Kentuck- 
ian  and  Pennsylvanian  here  stood  face  to  face  and 
learned  by  political  combat  each  to  know  and  to 
respect  the  other.  In  later  days  immigrants  of 
all  the  races  of  Europe  have  met  in  her  borders 
and  have  been  set  to  learn  the  hard  lessons  of 
toleration  and  mutual  respect;  and  amid  tumult, 
disorder  and  violence,  Illinois  has  pressed  on  her 
way  in  the  performance  of  her  political  mission 
in  the  United  States;  physically  and  intellectually 
in  the  days  of  the  Civil  War  and  in  the  days  of 
the  World  War  alike,  a  bond  of  union  among 
sections  and  races. 

The  geological  story  of  the  making  of  Illinois 
of  today  is  not  for  an  historian  to  tell  in  detail. 
Sometimes  covered  with  tropical  forest,  some- 
times the  bed  of  a  great  inland  sea,  sometimes 
partly  covered  with  glacial  ice  caps,  till  recently 
the  trough  by  which  the  Great  Lakes  flowed  to 
the   Mississippi,  Illinois  at  length  became  what 


Introduction 


she  was  when  the  white  man  first  looked  on  her 
landscape,  a  land  in  places  level  as  the  bed  of 
a  prehistoric  lake,  elsewhere  gently  rolling  or 
even  hilly,  trenched  from  northeast  to  southwest 
by  the  valley  of  the  Illinois  River,  crossed  in  the 
extreme  south  by  the  Ozark  Hills  but  with  only  a 
difference  of  a  few  hundred  feet  elevation  be- 
tween her  highest  and  lowest  points.  Over  her 
surface  in  places  stretched  the  prairies,  their  fer- 
tile soils  throwing  up  grass  as  high  as  the  waist 
of  a  horseman,  bordered  with  woods  along  the 
water  courses;  in  other  places  were  the  hills  more 
or  less  fertile  covered  by  hard  wood  forest  or 
scrub  oak.  Beneath  her  surface  lay  deposits  of 
lead  and  other  nonprecious  metals  and  vast  beds 
of  bituminous  coal.  On  the  northeast,  west, 
south,  and  east  she  touched  navigable  waters,  and 
across  her  flowed  many  rivers  such  as  the  Kas- 
kaskia,  the  Illinois,  the  Sangamon,  the  Embar- 
rass, the  Rock,  and  the  Desplaines  that  in  their 
day  served  as  highways  of  trade.  These  are  the 
facts  of  the  physical  Illinois  that  especially  con- 
cern the  student  of  her  history. 

Of  the  races  that  had  lived  in  her  borders  be- 
fore the  white  man  came  the  historian  can  say 
little  save  that  they  existed.  The  great  earth- 
works of  the  Ohio  Valley,  such  as  the  Monks 
Mound  of  Cahokia  and  the  surrounding  mounds 
have   challenged   attention    from   the   beginning, 


Introduction 


and  by  their  vastness  caused  men  to  believe  them 
the  work  of  superior  races.  Now  we  know  them 
to  be  only  the  work  of  forerunners  of  the  Indian 
tribes  of  later  days.  Excavation  of  the  mounds 
reveals  a  primitive  culture,  pottery,  tools,  weap- 
ons, ornaments.  Male  burials  with  crushed 
skulls  and  arrow-pierced  ribs;  skeletons  bearing 
the  mark  of  syphilitic  lesions  reveal  the  tragedies 
of  a  thousand  years  ago.  But  none  of  the  makers 
of  the  mounds  has  left  any  system  of  writing  for 
us  to  decipher,  and  their  history,  guessed  at  in  a 
few  instances,  must  remain  forever  unwritten. 

Nor  do  we  need  to  linger  over  the  Indian  in- 
habitaifts  found  by  the  white  man  in  the  Illinois 
country,  or  to  consider  them  save  as  the  hapless 
tools  and  victims  of  the  superior  races  that 
marked  the  region  for  their  own.  Of  the  Indians 
in  general  it  may  be  said  that  they  had  attained 
a  primitive  culture  that  included  a  rude  agricul- 
ture, a  rude  pottery,  a  rude  weaving,  a  rude  fash- 
ioning of  weapons  from  flint.  But  the  Indian  was 
speedily  diverted  to  hunt  or  to  wage  war  for  the 
white  man  and  to  use  the  white  man's  kettles, 
blankets,  and  firearms;  his  own  culture  faded 
away. 

So  soon  after  the  coming  of  the  whites  were 
the  Indian  and  his  political  and  social  life  debased 
that  it  is  not  easy  to  describe  him  accurately  as 
he  was  at  that  moment.     In  his  villages  were 


Introduction 


chiefs  whose  prestige  came  from  their  prowess 
in  arms,  medicine  men  whose  influence  came  from 
their  reputed  control  of  the  supernatural,  and 
civil  chiefs  whose  authority  arose  from  their  abil- 
ity or  descent.  In  the  villages  the  chiefs  exercised 
little  real  control  over  the  warriors  who  lawlessly 
broke  many  a  solemnly  made  treaty.  Custom  was 
law,  and  was  invoked  by  individuals,  penalties 
being  enforced  by  the  injured  man  or  his  kindred 
with  the  support  of  public  opinion.  Parents  ex- 
ercised little  control  of  their  children.  After  the 
white  man  had  come,  at  least,  immorality,  polyg- 
amy and  divorce  were  frequent.  Few  children 
were  born,  and  only  the  hardiest  survived  the 
starvation  of  the  hard  winter.  The  Indian  popu- 
lation at  best  was  but  stationary  in  a  land  of 
plenty  where  pioneers  of  the  white  race  were  pro- 
lific. And  by  war,  by  the  white  men's  disease,  and 
above  all  by  the  white  men's  ardent  spirits,  the 
god  of  the  white  men  day  by  day  removed  their 
red  opponents  from  before  their  faces. 

Much  has  been  written  about  the  Indians'  be- 
lief in  a  Great  Spirit  and  in  a  monotheistic  re- 
ligion; but  the  error  has  doubtless  arisen  from 
the  confusion  inevitable  when  one  attempts  to 
seek  abstract  thoughts  in  a  language  that  has  al- 
most no  words  for  them.  The  Indian  appears 
to  have  lived  in  a  spiritual  anarchy  comparable  to 
the  political  anarchy  of  his  villages;  the  tree,  the 


Introduction 


rock,  the  waterfall,  the  animal  he  hunted,  even  the 
weapon  with  which  he  hunted  it,  had  each  its  man- 
itou  or  presiding  spirit  to  be  appeased  by  rites  and 
offerings.  The  notion  of  one  overruling  Great 
Spirit  or  Manitou  he  perhaps  borrowed  at  an 
early  date  from  the  Roman  Catholic  missionary 
who  threaded  the  forest  to  bring  him  the  sacra- 
ments of  the  church  for  salvation,  or  from  the 
gentle  Moravian  who  sought  to  teach  him  the 
Christian  practice  of  humility,  gentleness  and  non- 
resistance. 

The  enumeration  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  the 
Illinois  is  not  a  matter  of  importance;  those  tribes 
generation  by  generation  changed  their  habitat. 
Father  Marquette  found  on  the  Mississippi  and 
Illinois  Rivers  the  confederated  tribes  of  the  Ca- 
hokia,  Tamaroa,  Michigamea,  Kaskaskia,  Peoria, 
etc.,  the  group  that  called  themselves  the  Illinois, 
or  the  men.  Later  exploration  found  the  Sac  and 
the  Foxes  in  northwestern  Illinois,  the  Pottawat- 
tomie  around  the  foot  of  Lake  Michigan,  the 
Kickapoo  in  the  central  prairies,  the  Shawnee  in 
the  southeast.  War,  famine,  the  pressure  of  the 
dreaded  Iroquois,  the  influence  of  French  com- 
manders anxious  to  group  the  Indians  for  military 
use,  made  incessant  changes  in  the  hunting 
grounds  of  the  tribes.  The  reader  will  forgive 
the  omission  of  details  that  would  only  weary 
him. 


THE  STORY  OF  ILLINOIS 


The  Story  of  Illinois 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    FRENCH    REGIME 

THE  coming  of  white  men  to  the  northwest 
and  to  Illinois  turns  on  a  succession  of  mo- 
tives; the  search  for  a  route  to  the  western  sea; 
the  fur  trade;  the  christianization  of  the  Indians; 
the  founding  of  commercial  and  military  empires; 
the  search  for  homes.  All  of  these  in  their  order 
influenced  the  French  and  English  as  in  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries  they  approached 
the  Illinois  country. 

The  appearance  of  the  first  Frenchman  in  the 
west  is  but  a  phase  of  the  age-long  search  for 
trade-routes  from  Europe  to  the  riches  of  the  far 
east.  That  trade  was  old  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  Era,  when  bales  of  Chinese  silks  in- 
tended to  be  worn  by  Roman  ladies  were  lost  in 
the  great  deserts  of  Central  Asia,  to  be  preserved 
in  the  sands,  and  recovered  in  our  own  day.  In 
the  fifteenth  century  it  was  the  aspiration  of  the 
European  nations  that  fronted  the  Atlantic  to 
find  a  route  for  that  trade  by  sea  that  perhaps 


The  Story  of  Illinois 


sent  Columbus  on  the  famous  voyage  to  the  west, 
and  certainly  sent  Vasco  da  Gama  around  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

Early  in  the  sixteenth  century  men  finally  rec- 
ognized the  fact  that  to  the  south  the  New  World 
barred  the  way  to  Cathay;  and  after  1540  the 
Spaniards  knew  well  enough  the  span  of  the 
North  American  continent.  But  the  search  for 
the  Northwest  Passage,  for  the  way  to  China 
through  the  Arctic  regions,  is  one  that  has  en- 
grossed men's  minds  even  to  the  present  when 
Mr.  Stefansson  proposes  a  route  by  submarine 
liners  under  the  polar  ice  cap.  In  the  early  sev- 
enteenth century  the  same  dream  set  Captain  John 
Smith  to  exploring  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Vir- 
ginia rivers  for  a  route  to  China.  In  1634  it 
sent  Jean  Nicolet,  despatched  by  Champlain 
from  the  struggling  little  French  colony  on  the 
rock  of  Quebec,  to  the  shores  of  Green  Bay 
dressed  in  "a  grand  robe  of  China  damask,  all 
strewn  with  flowers  and  birds  of  many  colors," — 
perhaps  that  he  might  make  with  due  eclat  his 
entry  into  the  capital  of  the  Great  Khan.1 

"  If  he  had  voyaged  three  days  more  on  a  great 
river  which  issues  from  this  lake,  he  would  have 
reached  the  sea."  2  Such  was  Nicolet's  later  re- 
port of  his  achievement;  based  on  information 

1  Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations,  XXIII,  279. 

2  Ibid.,  XVIII,  236. 


The  French  Regime 


obtained  in  the  partially  understood  language  of 
the  savages  among  whom  he  was.  Its  ambiguity 
is  provoking.  The  sea  may  be  the  "  Big  Water" 
of  the  Indians,  the  Mississippi;  Nicolet  may  have 
failed  to  understand  his  hosts  as  saying  that  three 
days  off  was  a  stream  that  would  lead  to  it;  but 
at  all  events  the  phrase  shows  how  present  in 
men's  thoughts  was  the  western  sea. 

Nicolet's  discoveries  were  not  followed  up  for 
twenty  years.  The  scourge  of  the  Iroquois  fell 
heavily  upon  the  struggling  colony  of  New 
France.  Their  confederation  in  which  the  fra- 
ternal clans  of  the  same  totem  throughout  the 
five  tribes  linked  the  whole  in  close  alliance  was 
famous  for  prowess  and  savagery  in  war.  The 
Jesuits,  strong  in  unquestioning  military  obedience 
to  superiors,  in  the  education,  the  devotion,  and 
the  intelligence  of  their  fathers  had  aspired  to 
do  in  New  France  what  they  had  done  in  Para- 
guay; to  gather  round  Jesuit  priests  villages  of 
Indians  to  be  instructed  in  the  faith,  and  to  be 
made  adept  and  obedient  pupils  of  their  spiritual 
guides  alike  in  the  concerns  of  war  and  peace. 
Their  work  had  begun  among  the  Hurons,  when 
in  1648  and  1649  ^e  Iroquois  fell  upon  their 
villages  and  amid  their  slaughtered  converts  Jes- 
uit fathers  gained  the  crown  of  martyrdom.  The 
remnant  of  the  Hurons  fled  from  the  eastern 
shore  of  their  lake  to  the  forests  beyond  Superior, 


The  Story  of  Illinois 


and  here  the  Jesuits  were  to  follow  them.  First 
at  La  Pointe  on  Lake  Superior  and  then  at  Green 
Bay,  Jesuit  missionaries  established  themselves 
in  the  west. 

Even  before  the  Jesuit  the  fur-trader  had  pene- 
trated to  the  west.  In  the  northern  parts  of 
America  the  white  pioneers  sought  in  vain  for 
the  pearls  and  precious  metals  that  enriched  the 
Spaniards  in  the  south;  but  early  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  they  had  discovered  a  source  of 
wealth  in  the  fur  bearing  animals.  The  trade  in 
furs,  though  small  if  judged  by  modern  standards, 
speedily  became  one  of  the  important  branches  of 
international  trade.  Amsterdam  became  a  great 
fur  market,  supplying  western  Europe  and  distant 
Russia.  Most  important  in  the  trade  was  the  pelt 
of  the  beaver  or  castor,  as  the  French  called  him; 
both  his  names  came  to  be  English  cant  synonyms 
for  hat;  and  the  manufacture  developed  in  both 
France  and  England.  In  America  the  demands 
of  the  trade  forced  the  Indians  to  become  the 
white  man's  hunters,  abandoning  the  practice  of 
their  primitive  domestic  arts  in  order  to  purchase 
with  furs  the  white  man's  blankets,  textiles,  ket- 
tles, guns,  ornaments,  and  above  all  his  fire  water, 
whether  Dutch  gin,  English  rum,  French  brandy, 
or  American  whisky.  At  some  time  between  1654 
and  1663  Radisson  and  Groseilliers  had  jour- 
neyed far  into  the  Northwest,  perhaps  even  to 


STATUE  OF  MARQUETTE 

Marquette,   Michigan 


The  French  Regime  5 

the  Mississippi,  in  search  of  furs.  Their  pres- 
ence antedated  even  that  of  the  Jesuit. 

Both  Jesuit  and  fur  trader  found  their  place  in 
the  new  imperialism  developing  in  France  with 
the  accession  to  power  in  1660  of  Louis  xiv. 
Colbert,  Louis'  great  minister  of  finance,  had  im- 
bibed the  mercantilist  idea  of  the  value  of  col- 
onies in  making  the  mother  country  strong  and 
self-sufficing,  and  his  policy  looked  to  strengthen- 
ing the  colony  of  Canada  and  extending  its 
bounds  and  trade.  The  exponents  of  his  policy 
in  Canada  were  the  Intendant,  Jean  Talon,  and 
after  1672  the  Governor  Louis  de  Buade,  Comte 
de  Frontenac.  Troops  were  sent  to  Canada  in 
sufficient  force  to  inspire  the  Iroquois  with  respect 
and  produce  a  peace  in  1667.  In  a  great  military 
ceremony  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  in  1671,  St.  Lus- 
son  took  possession  of  the  west  in  the  name  of 
Louis  xiv.  Where  Jesuit  and  trader  had  come 
before  by  sufferance  of  the  Indians  the  imperialist 
followed  secure  in  armed  might. 

In  extension  of  this  policy,  Louis  Joliet,  already 
explorer  of  Lake  Erie,  was  sent  in  1673,  ac* 
companied  by  the  Jesuit  Father  Jacques  Mar- 
quette to  search  out  the  Mississippi  River. 
Reaching  it  by  the  Fox-Wisconsin  portage  they 
floated  down  as  far  as  the  Arkansas  country. 
Having  determined  that  the  river  must  flow  into 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  fearing  capture  by  the 


The  Story  of  Illinois 


Spaniards  if  they  kept  on,  they  turned  back. 
They  passed  up  the  Illinois  on  their  return  where 
Joliet,  wiser  than  many  a  man  of  later  day, 
noted  the  richness  of  the  prairie  soil  and  the  fact 
that  no  trees  barred  the  farmer's  access  to  it;  they 
passed  the  portage  to  the  Chicago  River  where 
Joliet  again  anticipated  later  ages  by  pointing 
out  the  possibility  and  advantage  of  a  canal.  As 
Joliet's  journal  was  lost  when  his  canoe  was  over- 
set near  Montreal  our  main  source  for  the  expedi- 
tion is  the  journal  of  Father  Marquette,  whose 
life  is  almost  the  epic  of  Catholic  Christianity  in 
America. 

The  moving  impulse  of  Marquette's  life  was 
his  devotion  to  the  Virgin,  and  his  desire  to  bring 
the  knowledge  of  her  intercession  to  men  who 
lived  in  darkness.  For  this  he  had  become  a  mis- 
sionary; for  this  he  had  embarked  on  the  voyage, 
and  for  this  he  promised  the  confederation  of  the 
Illinois  that  he  would  return  and  establish  a  mis- 
sion among  them.  Returning  in  the  late  autumn 
of  1674  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  death  had  already 
marked  him,  he  spent  the  winter  in  a  hut  near  the 
Chicago  portage,  racked  by  illness,  ministered  to 
by  his  two  companions,  by  neighboring  fur  trad- 
ers, and  by  the  Indians.  In  the  spring,  rallying 
his  last  strength,  he  proceeded  down  the  Illinois 
as  far  as  the  villages  of  his  friends  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  them. 


The  French  Regime 


Above  all  he  preached  to  them  Jesus  Christ 
on  the  very  eve  (of  that  great  day)  that  He  died 
upon  the  cross  for  them  as  well  as  for  all  the  rest 
of  mankind;  then  he  said  holy  mass.  Three  days 
later  on  Easter  Sunday  things  being  prepared  in 
the  same  manner  as  on  the  Thursday,  he  cele- 
brated the  holy  mysteries  for  the  second  time. 
And  by  these  two  sacrifices  —  the  first  ever  offered 
thus  to  God,  he  took  possession  of  that  land  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  gave  to  that  mission  the 
name  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.1 

His  mission  thus  founded  he  regarded  his  life's 
work  as  accomplished.  He  set  out  on  his  return 
to  the  mission  at  Mackinac,  growing  weaker  day 
by  day  till  finally  at  the  Marquette  River  he  died 
the  death  of  a  saint,  u  dying  as  the  apostle  of  the 
Indians  in  a  wretched  cabin  on  the  shore  of  lake 
Illinois,  forsaken  by  all  the  world."2 

As  lonely  va  his  life  as  was  Marquette  in  his 
death,  but  differing  from  him  in  all  else  but  reso- 
lution and  greatness  of  soul  was  his  successor  in 
the  story  of  Illinois,  the  imperialist  Robert  Cave- 
lier,  Sieur  de  La  Salle.  Born  in  1643,  he  had 
been  in  youth  the  pupil  of  the  Jesuits;  but 
La  Salle's  was  not  the  metal  to  be  tempered  in 
that  forge,  and  to  the  end  he  hated,  his  old  mas- 
ters. He  had  come  to  New  France  in  1666,  ob- 
taining  near    Montreal    a    grant   of   land,    soon 


1  Thwaites,  Jesuit  Relations,  LIX,  188-190. 

2  Ibid.,  LIX,  zo6. 


8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

called  probably  in  derision  of  him  because  he  was 
always  dreaming  of  a  route  to  the  Far  East, 
La  Chine  —  China.  In  1674  with  the  favor  of 
Governor  Frontenac  he  had  acquired  Fort  Fron- 
tenac  on  Lake  Ontario,  and  an  opportunity  of 
growing  rich  from  the  fur  trade.  But  the  para- 
dox of  fate  had  made  this  man  who  could  not 
keep  accounts  a  dreamer  of  vast  empires,  based 
on  trade,  in  the  western  wilderness;  had  destined 
a  reserved  haughty  man  capable  of  winning  the 
loyalty  only  of  the  finest  characters  among  his 
followers  to  a  great  task  of  exploration  and  col- 
onization. A  will  of  tempered  steel  drove  him 
on  at  his  task  in  spite  of  foreclosures  by  his  credi- 
tors, the  sinking  of  his  ships,  repeated  mutinies 
and  desertions,  and  above  all  that  brute,  inert, 
cruel  opponent,  the  American  wilderness,  terrible 
in  its  forests  and  morasses,  its  treacherous  lakes 
and  rivers  and  its  winter  snows.  Counting  three 
failures  for  every  success,  by  the  day  in  1687 
when  he  fell  by  the  hands  of  mutinous  followers, 
he  had  done  his  work;  he  had  laid  in  the  Illinois 
the  foundations  of  a  French  colony. 

Briefly  stated  his  project  was  to  establish  posts 
to  the  south  of  the  Great  Lakes  to  link  the  fur 
trade  of  the  region  to  Fort  Frontenac,  and  to 
hold  the  Mississippi  River  as  a  second  great 
trade  outlet  from  the  interior  to  the  ocean.  Late 
in   1679  Dy  waY  °f  Lake  Michigan  and  the  St. 


The  French  Regime 


Joseph  River,  where  he  built  a  fort,  he  found  his 
way  to  the  Illinois  country.  In  January  of  1680 
he  built  Fort  Crevecoeur  at  the  Lake  of  Peoria 
among  the  Illinois  tribes.  The  loss  of  his  vessel, 
the  Griffon,  on  the  Great  Lakes,  and  the  attach- 
ment of  his  property  in  Canada  by  his  creditors 
compelled  him  to  return,  leaving  in  command  his 
trusted  lieutenant,  Henri  de  Tonti.  In  his  ab- 
sence happened  one  of  the  great  tragedies  of 
primitive  Indian  history. 

The  Iroquois  were  sufficiently  advanced  in  the 
arts  of  trade  to  recognize  the  ad\  antage  of  acting 
as  middlemen  in  the  fur  trade  between  the  western 
Indians  and  the  Dutch  and  English  at  Albany. 
The  likelihood  of  that  trade  being  diverted  else- 
where by  La  Salle  they  did  not  like;  and  in  the 
summer  of  1680  their  war  parties  appeared  be- 
fore the  great  Illinois  village  on  the  river  of  that 
name,  probably  where  the  little  hamlet  of  Utica 
stands  today.  Tonti,  already  deserted  by  most  of 
La  Salle's  followers,  used  every  means  that  his 
dauntless  spirit  could  devise  to  overcome  the  Iro- 
quois by  the  fear  of  the  French  and  save  the 
Illinois  from  their  tomahawks.  The  fears  of  trfe 
Iroquois,  however,  served  only  to  save  the  lives 
of  Tonti  and  his  few  men.  The  Iroquois  dogged 
the  Illinois  on  their  flight  down  the  river,  and 
when  the  Tamaroa  did  not  follow  the  other  tribes 
across  the  Mississippi,  drove  off  their  warriors  and 


io  The  Story  of  Illinois 

slew  their  women  and  children  by  torture.  Once 
more  an  essential  part  of  La  Salle's  great  edifice 
had  collapsed;  but  once  more  he  took  up  the  task 
of  replacing  it. 

In  the  winter  of  1 68 1-2  he  returned  to  the  Illi- 
nois with  new  resources  and  early  in  the  spring 
descended  the  Mississippi  to  its  mouth,  on  April 
9,  1682,  formally  taking  possession  of  the  river 
and  all  the  territory  it  drained  in  the  name  of 
Louis  xiv.  Returning  to  the  Illinois  River  he  be- 
gan a  new  fort  at  Starved  Rock,  (Crevecoeur 
had  been  burned  by  the  mutineers  of  1680)  call- 
ing it  Fort  St.  Louis.  Around  it  he  gathered  the 
Indian  tribes  for  mutual  protection  till  he  had 
nearly  four  thousand  warriors,  too  large  a  force 
for  any  Iroquois  war  party  to  overcome.  In  March 
of  1684  under  Tonti  the  fort  beat  off  an  Iroquois 
attack. 

Once  more  La  Salle's  project  was  threatened 
with  destruction,  this  time  at  the  hands  of  the 
new  governor  of  Canada,  La  Barre.  Desirous 
of  undoing  the  work  of  his  predecessors,  Fronte- 
nac  and  La  Salle,  La  Barre  took  over  La  Salle's 
posts  including  Fort  St.  Louis.  In  a  vain  search 
for  justice  in  Canada,  La  Salle  left  the  Illinois  for- 
ever. Passing  on  to  France  he  secured  the  favor 
of  Louis  Xiv,  obtaining  not  merely  the  return  of 
his  posts,  but  also  royal  aid  in  the  establishment 
of  a  colony  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.    His 


The  French  Regime  1 1 

expedition  missed  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  was 
landed  four  hundred  miles  to  the  west,  at  Mata- 
gorda Bay.  Setting  out  in  1687  overland  to  the 
Illinois  in  a  desperate  attempt  to  reach  Tonti  and 
bring  reenforcements  for  his  colony  he  was  mur- 
dered by  mutinous  followers.  Some  of  his 
men  made  their  way  to  the  Illinois,  and  the 
Indians  forestalled  the  Spaniards  in  accounting 
for  the  rest  of  his  colony. 

But  if  La  Salle  was  gone,  Tonti  and  his  colony 
in  Illinois  were  left.  On  hearing  of  La  Salle's 
death  a  year  after  it  occurred  he  descended  the 
Mississippi  in  a  vain  attempt  to  rescue  the  Texas 
colony.  In  1690  he  with  La  Forest,  another  of 
La  Salle's  followers,  was  granted  all  La  Salle's 
rights  in  the  Illinois.  Fort  St.  Louis  was  moved 
to  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Peoria  once  more, 
and  subsidiary  posts  appeared  at  Maramec  on  the 
Fox  River,  and  at  Chicago. 

The  Jesuit  influence  now  turned  the  scale 
against  the  imperialists.  La  Salle  had  always 
hated  the  Jesuits,  believing  they  had  carried  their 
opposition  to  him  even  to  the  point  of  stirring  up 
the  Iroquois  against  him.  The  Jesuits  on  their 
part  disliked  the  whole  imperial  scheme  of 
La  Salle.  Their  enemies  maintained  that  they 
wished  to  keep  traders  out  of  the  west  in  order 
themselves  to  enjoy  a  monopoly  of  trade;  but 
such  a  motive  is  not  necessary  to  explain  why  men 


12  The  Story  of  Illinois 

engaged  in  christianizing  the  Indians  should  op- 
pose the  introduction  of  brandy  into  their  vil- 
lages ;  for,  perhaps  because  they  lacked  the  white 
man's  partial' immunity  gained  by  hereditary  use, 
strong  waters  literally  turned  the  Indians  to 
beasts.  The  Montreal  traders  who  suspected 
that,  in  spite  of  royal  prohibitions,  La  Salle's 
establishments  in  the  west  bought  furs  that  other- 
wise would  have  come  to  Montreal  added  their 
complaints  to  those  of  the  Jesuits.  The  Jesuit 
influence  through  the  pious  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon,  privately  married  to  Louis  XIV,  prevailed 
on  the  king.  Partly  on  the  ground  of  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  Indians,  partly  on  the  ground  that 
the  fur  trade  of  the  West  was  not  worth  the  wars 
and  military  preparations  it  cost,  in  1696  an  edict 
was  issued  barring  all  traders  from  the  West. 
Henceforth  the  Indians  must  bring  their  furs  to 
Montreal  to  trade  under  supervision  of  the  au- 
thorities. Tonti  and  La  Forest  might  retain  their 
post  but  must  not  trade  in  beaver. 

In  spite  of  this  prohibition  the  Illinois  posts 
survived.  Tonti  was  removed  by  death  at  Mo- 
bile in  1704;  after  that  year  La  Forest  was  not 
in  the  Illinois.1  But  the  missions  were  developing. 

1The  terms  "The  Illinois"  and  "the  Illinois  Country"  are 
used  here  and  hereafter  in  the  loose  sense  which  they  retained 
till  the  nineteenth  century,  referring  to  settlements  scattered 
from  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  lower  Ohio  to  the 
Great  Lakes.  In  using  the  terms,  men  ordinarily  did  not  think 
of  any  exact  boundaries. 


HENRI  DE  TONTY 

From    Bas-Relief   in    Marquette    Building,    Chicago 


The  French  Regime  13 

Father  Claude  Allouez  had  carried  on  the  work 
of  Marquette  till  his  death  in  1689.  Father 
Jacques  Gravier  succeeded  him,  laboring  till  1705. 
For  a  few  years  after  1696  the  mission  station  of 
the  Guardian  Angel  stood  at  Chicago.  In  1699 
the  Seminary  for  Foreign  Missions  established  a 
mission  to  the  Tamaroa  at  Cahokia  in  the  Amer- 
ican Bottom.  After  a  controversy  with  the  Jesu- 
its'it  was  decided  finally  that  the  Seminary  was  to 
retain  its  station,  and  the  Jesuits  were  to  control 
the  rest  of  the  Illinois  field.  In  1700  they  had 
moved  Marquette's  Mission  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  to  Kaskaskia.  Settlement  in  the  Illi- 
nois was  shifting  toward  the  place  at  which  it  was 
to  rest  for  a  century  and  more  —  the  rich  bottom 
lands  of  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi  below 
the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  —  the  American  Bot- 
tom of  later  pioneer  parlance.  This  result  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  La  Salle's  plan  for  the  occu- 
pation of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  had  at 
last  been  accomplished.  In  1699  the  Sieur  dTber- 
ville  had  founded  Biloxi ;  and  he  looked  for  a  re- 
organization of  trade  around  the  new  colony, 
and  proposed  a  regrouping  of  Indian  tribes  in 
the  upper  country  for  defense.  Accordingly  he 
brought  the  Illinois  tribes  to  the  Mississippi  to 
link  them  closer  to  Louisiana.  In  1702  he  pro- 
jected a  post  near  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee  to 
shut  out  the  English ;  one  was  established  near  the 


14  The  Story  of  Illinois 

present  site  of  Cairo;  it  lasted  but  a  year  or  two. 
For  the  Illinois  settlement  thus  relocated  for 
strategic  and  commercial  purposes  there  followed 
years  of  slow  growth,  transmuting  trading  posts 
into  frontier  villages.  Coureitrs  de  bois  married 
squaws  and  became  domestic;  families  of  settlers 
found  their  way  out.  In  one  way  or  another  Illi- 
nois held  its  own  during  the  critical  years  of  the 
war  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  1702-1713.  The 
trading  restrictions  had  always  been  hard  to  en- 
force on  the  lawless  men  of  the  wilderness.  The 
Indians  had  never  liked  the  requirement  that  they 
carry  furs  to  Montreal  or  the  prohibition  of  the 
trade  in  brandy;  and  in  the  stress  of  war,  to  keep 
them  away  from  English  influence,  violations  of 
the  edict  on  the  part  of  French  traders  had  been 
winked  at.  With  17 14  the  policy  was  practically 
abandoned.  Then  a  Scotch  adventurer,  John 
Law,  of  Lauriston,  came  to  Paris  with  the  project 
of  an  imperial  speculation;  a  great  bank  in  Paris 
rejuvenating  the  finances  with  paper  money,  and 
a  vast  trading  and  colonizing  enterprise  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley  to  give  that  paper  money  validi 
ity.1  Even  the  early  eighteenth  century  knew 
something  of  advertising  and  Law's  glowing  pro- 
spectuses of  squaws  weaving  silks,  of  a  land  flow- 


1  Crozat's  trading  charter  of  1712  did  not  cover  Illinois.  It 
included  only  Louisiana,  and  at  that  date  the  boundary  of 
Louisiana  was  the  Ohio  River. 


The  French  Regime  15 

ing  with  milk  and  honey,  out  of  whose  hills  might 
be  dug,  if  not  brass,  at  least  gold  and  silver,  drew 
men's  attention  to  the  Great  Valley;  even  drew 
colonists  into  it.  When  the  crash  of  the  scheme 
came  in  1720  the  awakened  interest  of  France  in 
the  Illinois  and  her  enlarged  settlements  were  in- 
tangible assets  with  real  value. 

With  the  year  1721  came  a  reorganization  of 
French  dominions  in  America.  Louisiana  was 
laid  off  into  districts;  two  of  them,  Arkansas  and 
Illinois  were  united  in  the  commandery  of  Illinois. 
In  it  a  court  was  established  in  1722.  In  1720 
Philippe  Renault  had  come  to  Illinois  in  search 
of  mines.  That  same  year  Fort  de  Chartres  was 
begun;  rebuilt  in  1753  as  tne  Louisbourg  of  the 
west,  it  was  continued  on  a  site  which  the  English 
later  condemned  as  dictated  by  the  pecuniary  in- 
terests of  its  builders  rather  than  its  command 
of  the  Mississippi  River.  The  interminable  suc- 
cession of  battles  and  campaigns  drags  on  from 
17 1 2  in  the  Fox  war,  a  struggle  between  the 
Foxes  and  the  French  and  their  Indian  allies. 
Outlying  settlements  grew  up :  Ouiatenon  near  the 
present  site  of  Lafayette,  Indiana,  in  1720,  Vin- 
cennes  in  1 731.  In  that  year  the  control  of  the 
Company  of  the  Indies,  the  successor  of  Law's 
enterprise,  came  to  an  end;  and  throughout  the 
remainder  of  the  French  regime  Illinois  was  gov- 
erned by  the  king. 


1 6  The  Story  of  Illinois 

The  history  of  the  Illinois  till  1765  must  thence- 
forth be  a  recital  of  the  names  of  the  intendants 
and  commandants  who  ruled  in  the  Illinois,  and 
of  the  Jesuits  and  seminary  priests  who  labored 
there.  One  romantic  name  stands  out,  that  of 
Pierre  Dartaguiette,  the  brave  young  comman- 
dant in  the  Illinois  from  1 733  to  1 736.  His  end  was 
tragic.  In  1736  he  led  an  expedition  down  the 
Mississippi  to  cooperate  with  the  governor  of 
Louisiana  in  an  attack  on  the  Indians  of  the  South- 
west who  under  the  influence  of  English  traders 
among  them  attacked  the  French  convoys  on  the 
river.  The  conjunction  of  the  French  forces  was 
never  made,  the  Indians,  under  the  guidance  of 
the  English  defeating  both  expeditions  in  detail. 
Dartaguiette  was  captured  at  the  defeat  of  the 
Chickasaw  Bluffs,  and  perished  at  the  stake,  sing- 
ing his  death  song  undaunted  by  the  fire. 

The  settlement  in  the  Illinois  country  was  never 
very  large.  It  numbered  perhaps  2,000  French 
and  negroes  at  the  most,  scattered  mainly  in  the 
little  villages  of  Kaskaskia,  Prairie  du  Rocher,  St. 
Philips,  Fort  de  Chartres,  and  Cahokia.  Yet  in 
the  fertile  lands  of  the  American  Bottom  this  lit- 
tle population  raised  grain  that  supplied  not 
merely  the  later  posts  on  the  Ohio,  but  Louisiana 
and  New  Orleans  as  well.  Where  wealth  such  as 
this  existed  commerce  flourished.  The  fur  trade 
was  mainly  carried  on  by  way  of  the  Missouri 


The  French  Regime  1% 

River,  furs  being  shipped  out  by  way  of  Canada. 
In  the  government  of  the  colony  the  French  au- 
thorities applied  their  favorite  principle  of  check 
and  govern;  against  the  authority  of  the  com- 
mandant they  balanced  that  of  the  civil  and  crim- 
inal judge  or  intendant,  representative  of  the 
finance  department.  Lesser  figures  were  the  store 
keeper  and  the  notary,  an  official  whose  records 
included  legal  instruments,  deeds,  agreements, 
marriage  contracts  and  wills.  A  degree  of  self 
government  in  village  concerns  devolved  upon  the 
inhabitants  of  the  villages  who  elected  officials  to 
attend  to  local  affairs.  The  villages  had  their 
common  fields  administered  in  common;  other- 
wise land  was  held  by  various  tenures,  some  of 
them  feudal  but  none  of  them  oppressive.  As  in 
Canada  the  holdings  took  the  form  of  ribbons  of 
land  running  back  from  a  narrow  river  frontage. 
Externally  an  Illinois  village  of  the  French 
regime  represented  various  classes  and  standards 
of  life.  There  was  a  sprinkling  of  nobles  and 
bourgeois,  the  officials  and  well-to-do  traders,  liv- 
ing as  close  to  the  fashions  of  Versailles  as  three 
thousand  miles  of  sea  and  one  thousand  of  wil- 
derness would  let  them,  their  houses  garnished 
with  good  furniture  and  plate.  There  were  the 
habitants,  illiterate,  simple,  light-hearted  folk 
ready  always  for  dance  or  frolic,  taking  not  too 
much  thought  for  the  morrow,  and  not  cleaning 


1 8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

their  homes  too  carefully.  "  For  clothing,  the 
cotton  plant  furnished  its  fibre,  and  the  warm 
Mackinaw  blanket  the  indispensable  capot,  with 
a  blue  cloth  hood  for  'winter  wear,'  and  the  skins 
of  the  deer  dressed  in  the  Indian  manner  for 
trousers  and  moccasins.  Thus  appareled,  and 
with  a  short  clay  pipe  burnt  to  an  ebony  color 
by  constant  use,  wending  his  way  to  gossip  with 
his  neighbor,  or  by  his  own  ingle,  you  have  a  pic- 
ture of  a  colonial  subject  of  the  'Grand  Mon- 
arque.'"1  The  lawless  conreur  de  bois  is  always 
in  the  background,  and  the  negro.  One  man  in 
1765  owned  no  less  than  eighty  negro  slaves. 
Around  the  settlements  was  a  fringe  of  Indians, 
half-civilized  and  half-christianized  by  the  Jesuit 
fathers,  and  wholly  decadent. 

With  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
came  the  crisis  of  the  struggle  between  Great 
Britain  and  France  for  the  control  of  the  Ohio 
Valley.  The  part  of  the  English  in  western  ex- 
ploration, not  so  well  known  as  that  of  the 
French,  is  equally  daring.  At  point  after  point 
French  and  English  came  in  rivalry  from  the 
first. 

Soon  after  they  had  explored  the  North  for 
France,  Radisson  and  Groseilliers  went  over  to 
the  English  service  and  taught  their  new  masters 
of  the  rich  fur  trade  that  could  be  made  tributary 

iBreese,  Early  History  of  Illinois,  198. 


The  French  Regime  19 

to  Hudson  Bay.  English  ships  could  enter  it,  and 
tied  up  to  wharves  rn  its  harbors,  exchange  goods 
for  furs  far  cheaper  than  could  the  French,  ob- 
liged to  carry  their  merchandise  over  a  thousand 
miles  of  lakes,  rivers  and  portages.  The  French 
seized  the  Hudson  Bay  posts  in  1686,  and  main- 
tained partial  possession  for  almost  thirty  years, 
but  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  by  the  Treaty  of 
Utrecht  in  17 13  was  restored  to  its  rights. 

Barely  had  St.  Lusson  raised  the  lilies  of 
France  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  on  the  western  edge  of 
the  Great  Lakes  Basin,  when  Batts  and  Fallam, 
adventurous  Virginia  explorers,  passed  the 
heights  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  on  the  New  River 
reached  westward  flowing  waters,  finding  by  their 
way  evidence  that  other  and  unknown  Englishmen 
had  preceded  them.  By  the  latter  part  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century,  Virginia  pack  trains  were  seek- 
ing the  fur  trade  of  the  interior  with  the  southern 
Indians  by  way  of  the  defiles  of  the  French  Broad 
and  the  Little  Tennessee,  and  around  the  south- 
ern end  of  the  Appalachian  barrier  in  the  present 
state  of  Georgia.  A  letter  left  by  Father  Mar- 
quette in  1673  on  the  lower  Mississippi  to  be  de- 
livered to  some  Spanish  priest  to  the  south  found 
its  way  ultimately  to  William  Byrd  of  Virginia; 
how  we  can  only  conjecture.  By  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century  the  English  had  passed 
down  the  Tennessee  to  its  mouth  and  had  crossed 


20  The  Story  of  Illinois 

the  Mississippi  to  the  Arkansas  country.  They 
were  only  months  behind  the  French  in  reaching 
to  seize  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  Fifteen 
years  before  under  the  protection  of  the  Iroquois 
their  traders  had  ventured  on  the  Great  Lakes 
from  Albany  as  far  as  Mackinac.  The  French 
in  the  west  felt  themselves  beset;  at  all  events 
they  strove  to  make  the  home  government  think 
they  were. 

The  pressure  of  the  English  and  the  hostility 
of  Indian  tribes  had  caused  the  French  to  pay 
but  little  attention  to  the  upper  Ohio  country  be- 
fore the  forties.  Their  fur  trade  had  lain  across 
the  Mississippi;  they  were  concerned  more  im- 
mediately in  making  sure  of  their  communication 
with  New  Orleans  by  way  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
with  Canada  by  way  of  the  upper  Wabash  and 
Maumee  and  by  the  Chicago  and  St.  Joseph  por- 
tages to  Lake  Michigan.  Accordingly  about  1 740 
English  trading  posts  began  to  spring  up  in  the 
present  state  of  Ohio;  and  the  French  feared  in 
King  George's  War  (1744-48)  that  the  influence 
of  English  traders  on  the  Indians  might  rouse 
them  to  a  general  massacre  in  the  Illinois.  The 
French  occupation  under  Celoron  de  Blainville  of 
the  portages  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Forks  of  the 
Ohio  was  a  desperate  attempt  to  block  off  the 
English  from  the  Great  Valley.  Their  clash  with 
the  Ohio  Company  of  Virginia  land  speculators 


The  French  Regime  21 

and  George  Washington  and  the  outbreak  in 
1754  of  the  French  and  Indian  War  are  a  part  of 
the  nation's  history. 

In  that  war  Illinois  had  but  a  minor  part  to 
play.  From  the  wheat  fields  of  the  American 
Bottom  it  supplied  the  French  garrisons  with 
food.  It  sent  military  contingents  to  the  Forks 
of  the  Ohio  that  participated  in  the  actions  of  1754 
to  1758.  It  saw  a  fort,  often  incorrectly  called 
Fort  Gage,1  built  at  Kaskaskia  in  1759,  and  Fort 
Massiac  built  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Ten- 
nessee two  years  earlier.  Its  garrisons  took  part 
in  one  or  two  later  campaigns  in  the  main  seats  of 
war;  but  there  the  story  ends.  The  military  de- 
cisions in  the  war  of  1756-1763  were  to  come  in 
fields  remote  from  Illinois;  at  Louisbourg,  at  the 
Forks  of  the  Ohio,  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham; 
and  when  the  Treaty  of  Paris  in  1763  ceded  to 
England  all  France  had  claimed  east  of  the 
Mississippi  save  New  Orleans,  for  two  years  the 
French  garrisons  held  the  Illinois  till  Pontiac's 
rebellion  had  subsided,  and  the  English  troops 
could  make  their  way  to  Fort  Chartres  and  take 
possession. 

So  passed  the  French  regime  in  Illinois.  It  had 
begun  in  the  militant  dreams  of  imperial  trade 
expansion,  and  the  conversion  of  the  Indians;  and 

1  This  fort  was  on  the  bluffs  above  the  town.  Fort  Gage  was 
the  name  given  to  the  Jesuits'  house  in  Kaskaskia,  when  used 
as  a  fort  by  the  British. 


22  The  Story  of  Illinois 

it  had  failed.  France,  unlike  England,  had  re- 
solved to  exclude  from  her  colony  religious  dis- 
sent; and  the  Huguenot  elements  that  might  have 
built  her  an  empire  overseas  built  one  for  Eng- 
land instead.  Her  policy  of  restriction  and  regu- 
lation had  allured  but  a  few  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  docile  Frenchmen  to  filter  into  the  west 
to  hold  it  against  the  onward  rush  of  the  English 
millions.  The  few  hundreds  of  French  inhabit- 
ants remained  clinging  to  their  old  customs  and 
speech  till  submerged  in  the  vast  tide  of  emigra- 
tion that  brought  men  of  other  European  races 
to  Illinois  by  the  hundred  thousand  and  the  mil- 
lion. Of  material  results  of  the  French  regime 
it  is  vain  to  inquire;  a  few  oddly  shaped  land 
holdings,  a  few  peculiar  titles  to  be  fitted  into  a 
world  of  township  surveys,  and  Anglo  Saxon  land 
laws;  a  few  names  of  places.  In  spiritual  results 
the  contribution  is  far  richer;  it  has  thrown  a 
gleam  of  the  romance  and  chivalry  of  old  France 
across  the  page  of  Illinois  history  in  the  engaging 
figures  of  Dartaguiette  and  the  loyal  Tonti;  above 
all  it  has  left  to  all  time  the  two  ideal  figures  of 
the  missionary  and  the  explorer,  the  saintly  Mar- 
quette and  the  heroic  La  Salle. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  DAY  OF  THE  BRITON 

TO  THE  French  regime  in  Illinois  succeeded 
the  English.  From  the  year  1763  when  the 
English  acquired  title  to  the  French  territory  east 
of  the  Mississippi  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution,  Great  Britain  faced  the  prob- 
lem of  organizing  the  Illinois  country  and  her 
other  American  acquisitions,  and  of  coordinating 
them  in  the  empire  which  the  war  of  17 54- 1763 
had  thrust  upon  her  hands.  For  the  British  em- 
pire did  not  begin  with  a  far  flung  plan  of  im- 
perial dominion;  it  was  a  casual  growth.  English 
traders  had  traded  in  India  and  the  exigencies  of 
trade  forced  them  to  govern  the  people  with 
whom  they  traded.  English  colonies  had  grown 
up  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  largely  through  the 
salutary  neglect  of  the  mother  country  and  had 
committed  England  to  an  American  war  in  which 
France  was  driven  from  the  continent.  The  prob- 
lem of  forming  an  imperial  system  out  of  these 
accidental  beginnings  in  1763  was  indeed  a  great 
one.  To  enlarge  a  little  island's  government, 
gnarled  and  twisted  with  centuries  of  constitu- 
tional quibbles  and  compromises  till  it  might  serve 

23 


24  The  Story  of  Illinois 

also  as  the  government  of  some  three  million 
Englishmen,  Scotchmen,  Irishmen,  Germans,  and 
French  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard;  to  regulate 
through  it  the  inevitable  displacement  of  the  In- 
dian by  the  expansion  of  the  whites;  to  extend  it 
over  a  trading  corporation  such  as  the  East  India 
Company,  fast  acquiring  dominions  in  India, 
larger,  more  populous,  perhaps  more  wealthy 
than  England  herself,  and  insure  that  the  corpora- 
tion should  not  itself  corrupt  English  politics;  to 
extend  an  imperial  order  alike  over  the  primitive 
barbarism  of  the  American  Indian,  and  the  an- 
cient civilization  of  the  Hindu;  in  short  to  unite 
the  North  American  wilderness,  the  seaboard 
colonies,  the  sugar  islands,  the  African  slave  coast 
and  India  into  an  empire  in  which  all  should  con- 
tribute justly  to  the  common  defense;  here  was 
the  problem  of  England  in  1763.  Her  attempts 
to  solve  it  are  written  in  many  places;  in  the  proj- 
ects of  legislation  for  the  East  India  Company, 
in  the  parliamentary  independence  for  a  time  be- 
stowed on  Ireland,  in  the  measures  of  taxation 
that  produced  the  American  Revolution,  and 
lastly  in  the  abortive  attempts  from  1763  to  1774 
to  evolve  a  policy  for  the  West. 

The  failure  of  England  to  solve  her  problem  is 
to  be  traced  to  the  character  of  the  English  gov- 
ernment of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  revolu- 
tion of  the  seventeenth  century  ostensibly  trans- 


STATUE  OF  LA  SALLE 

Lincoln   Park,   Chicago 


The  Day  of  the  Briton  25 

ferring  control  from  the  crown  to  the  parliament 
had  really  transferred  it  from  the  king  to  the 
great  landholders.  Representation  of  the  House 
of  Commons  was  in  no  sense  equally  propor- 
tioned. Great  cities  had  no  representatives  or  at 
best  but  two  or  four,  while  medieval  towns  that 
had  long  since  turned  to  sheep  walks  or  sunk  be- 
neath the  North  Sea  had  their  members  duly 
nominated  by  some  local  landholder;  and  in  many 
a  little  village  the  ownership  of  a  few  houses  or 
a  few  acres  of  land  conferred  on  the  holder  the 
right  to  name  two  members  in  the  most  august 
legislative  assembly  in  the  world.  From  the  time 
when  the  rising  importance  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons became  apparent,  great  nobles  and  great 
landholders  had  been  consolidating  their  control 
of  the  boroughs  that  sent  members  to  Parliament. 
Cliques  based  on  family  relationship  or  political 
alliances  pooled  their  holdings  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  made  or  unmade  ministries  by  giv- 
ing or  withholding  the  support  of  their  votes  in 
the  House.  Party  government,  as  we  understand 
it,  was  nonexistent;  the  art  of  constituting  a  min- 
istry lay  in  gaining  the  support  of  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  aristocratic  factions  to  secure  majorities  in 
Lords  and  Commons.  The  policies  of  ministries 
so  constituted,  on  the  west  as  on  every  other  sub- 
ject were  in  continual  fluctuation. 

Many  interests  awaited  with  impatience  the  de- 


26  The  Story  of  Illinois 

cisions  the  ministry  must  make  as  to  the  disposal 
of  the  new  domain.  Land  speculation  had  been  a 
mania  in  Virginia  for  a  century  and  a  quarter.  Vir- 
ginia gentlemen  of  influence  had  secured  larger  and 
larger  grants  till  the  good  lands  of  Virginia  were 
spent,  and  they  looked  with  longing  eyes  to  the 
rich  land  beyond  the  mountains.  Already  in  1748 
the  Ohio  Company  had  received  a  grant  on  the 
upper  Ohio;  but  the  French  and  Indian  War  had 
hindered  its  exploitation.  Pennsylvania  specu- 
lators were  as  acute  and  as  determined  to  fore- 
stall their  Virginia  rivals;  it  was  a  saying  that 
every  great  fortune  made  in  the  province  within 
fifty  years  had  been  made  in  land.  The  sea  to 
sea  charter  claims  of  Connecticut  and  Massachu- 
setts cut  belts  across  the  new  West.  On  every 
side  were  men  eager  that  the  government  permit 
them  to  go  up  and  possess  it;  on  every  side,  even 
highly  placed  in  England,  were  men  who  owned 
land  elsewhere,  in  Ireland,  on  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board, in  Florida,  which  they  feared  would  be  de- 
populated or  settled  slowly,  were  the  new  lands 
opened  to  settlement.  Beneath  the  aristocratic 
speculators  fretted  the  mass  of  frontiersmen, 
eager  to  sweep  over  the  new  paradise  in  spite  of 
the  Indians.  In  deciding  on  its  policy  of  settle- 
ment in  the  West  and  in  pursuing  it  the  British 
ministry  had  need  of  firmness. 

The  problem  of  trade  offered  as  much  diffi- 


The  Day  of  the  Briton  27 

culty.  It  was  estimated  that  the  fur  trade  for- 
merly tributary  to  Montreal  was  worth  £135,000 
a  year.  The  English  traders  in  the  back  country, 
men  who  could  not  be  controlled,  whose  cheating 
and  abuse  of  the  Indians  often  foiled  the  best  en- 
deavors of  the  Indian  agents  to  keep  them  loyal 
to  the  British,  might  lick  their  lips  at  the  thought 
of  this  prize.  Other  fur  trading  interests  at 
home,  such  as  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  power- 
ful in  back  stairs  influence  in  politics  had  no  de- 
sire to  see  English  rivals  master  this  trade.  In 
later  years  a  group  of  Scotch  merchants  took  over 
the  Montreal  trade  and  found  kindly  Scots  at 
home  to  defeat  measures  that  threatened  their 
control  of  It.  As  many  economic  interests  were 
arrayed  on  either  side  of  the  trade  question  as 
on  that  of  the  land. 

Indeed  the  influences  bearing  upon  the  ministry 
had  made  it  hesitate  when  terms  of  peace  were 
first  debated,  whether  to  ask  for  Canada  or  for 
Guadeloupe,  a  French  sugar  island  of  the  West 
Indies.  In  the  debate  waged  in  the  pamphlet  press 
over  the  question,  it  had  been  pointed  out  that 
the  freeing  of  the  seaboard  colonies  from  the  fear 
of  Canada  might  encourage  them  to  strike  for 
their  independence ;  that  tropical  products  such  as 
sugar  were  more  valuable  to  England's  trade  than 
those  of  the  temperate  zone  which  would  com- 
pete with  her  own  produce.     Opinion  differed  as 


28  The  Story  of  Illinois 

to  whether  acquiring  the  West  and  allowing  the 
colonies  to  expand  into  it  would  hasten  the  day 
of  their  independence  by  increasing  their  strength, 
or  retard  it  by  thinning  their  population  and  post- 
poning the  time  when  their  manufactures  would 
compete  with  Great  Britain's.  The  advocates  of 
Canada  had  their  way  in  the  peace.  Thenceforth 
they  were  politically  bound  to  prove  the  useful- 
ness of  their  trophy,  as  those  who  had  opposed  it, 
such  as  the  faction  of  the  Old  Whigs  were  natu- 
rally inclined  to  point  with  satisfaction  to  every 
proof  that  the  exploiting  of  their  opponent's  ac- 
quisition was  not  worth  the  cost. 

The  expansionist  groups  were  in  control  of  the 
ministry  at  the  treaty  of  peace;  and  the  young 
Earl  of  Shelburne,  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  began  to  develop  a  colonial  policy.  Al- 
ready it  had  been  decided  to  maintain  a  force  of 
twenty  battalions  of  regular  troops  in  the  col- 
onies, to  garrison  the  interior,  and  to  draw  a  line 
between  the  possessions  of  the  whites  and  the 
Indians  beyond  which  purchases  were  to  be  made 
only  by  imperial  authority,  when  in  the  late  sum- 
mer of  1763  the  news  of  Pontiac's  insurrection 
reached  London.  Pontiac,  an  Ottawa  chief,  dis- 
mayed at  seeing  the  French  replaced  by  the  Eng- 
lish on  the  west  and  outraged  by  the  rapacity  of 
the  lawless  English  traders,  and  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  white  settlers,  had  formed  a  con- 


The  Day  of  the  Briton  29 

federacy  of  Indian  tribes  and  lifted  the  toma- 
hawk. The  Indian  agents  were  powerless  to 
check  the  uprising.  Every  British  garrison  in 
the  West  save  Detroit,  Niagara  and  Fort  Pitt  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  and  a  long  and 
costly  Indian  war  seemed  the  only  alternative  to 
a  speedy  reassurement  and  conciliation  of  the 
Indians  by  imperial  authority. 

To  bring  this  about  the  famous  Proclamation 
of  October  7,  1763,  was  issued.  "A  very  silly 
proclamation  it  was,"  exclaimed  one  of  the  men 
responsible  for  it,  in  a  moment  of  candor  years 
later.1  Before  its  preparation  was  completed 
Shelburne,  owing  to  a  factional  upheaval,  had  left 
office;  it  passed  through  the  hands  of  his  suc- 
cessor, the  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  accumulating 
divers  blunders  on  its  way.  Intentionally  it  set 
the  crest  of  the  mountains  as  the  limit  of  settle- 
ment, thereby  for  the  time  being  shutting  off  the 
older  colonies  from  the  newer  West.  In  enumer- 
ating other  colonies,  East  and  West  Florida,  Nova 
Scotia,  and  Quebec,  to  which  population  was  to 
be  invited  to  flow,  it  specified  among  their  ad- 
vantages English  law  and  English  government, 
thereby  at  a  stroke  of  the  pen  depriving  the 
French  inhabitants  of  Canada  of  the  law  by  which 
their  lands  and  lives  were  secured,  and  imposing 

1  Lord    Chancellor   Northington.     Alvord,   Mississippi   Valley 
in  British  Politics,  I,  264. 


3°  The  Story  of  Illinois 

on  them  a  representative  government  from  which 
religious  tests  barred  them.  Eleven  years  passed 
before  this  injustice  was  undone. 

A  second  step  of  imperial  policy  taken  under 
the  new  British  ministry,  made  up  of  an  alliance 
of  the  Grenville  and  Bedford  political  factions, 
was  the  organization  of  an  Indian  Department. 
Since  1755  there  had  been  Indian  superintend- 
ences North  and  South,  the  first  under  the  fa- 
mous Sir  William  Johnson,  supervising  more  or 
less  under  the  control  of  the  military  department 
all  dealings  with  the  Indians,  issuing  presents  to 
them  and  otherwise  working  to  conciliate  them. 
The  organization  was  now  enlarged  and  elabo- 
rated. Representatives  of  the  superintendencies 
were  lodged  with  every  tribe,  and  all  trade  with 
the  Indians  was  to  take  place  at  fixed  posts,  under 
licenses  issued  by  the  superintendents.  To  carry 
out  the  new  Indian  policy  and  to  provide  military 
support  for  it,  money  was  necessary;  and  the 
Stamp  Act  was  passed  to  secure  from  the  colonies 
their  share  of  it.  Their  vociferous  protest  at  be- 
ing obliged  to  pay  for  an  imperial  policy  they 
had  not  approved,  and  at  being  committed  to 
subordination  to  the  imperial  authority  of  the 
British  parliament  in  taxation,  helped  to  drive  the 
Grenville-Bedfords  out  of  office. 

The  Duke  of  Bedford  had  been  the  negotiator 
of  the  Treaty  of  1763  and  he  and  his  followers 


The  Day  of  the  Briton  31 

were  therefore  necessarily  imperialists;  but  the 
succeeding  ministry,  the  Old  Whigs,  was  made  up 
of  opponents  of  the  treaty  of  peace  who  so  far 
as  the  West  was  concerned  were  probably  anti- 
imperialist.  They  were  great  favorers  of  vested 
and  corporate  interests  and  thus  inclined  to  sym- 
pathize with  the  outcry  of  the  colonies  as  corpo- 
rations against  encroachment  on  their  privileges 
by  the  Stamp  Act;  hence  they  repealed  it.  They 
went  out  of  office  in  1766  before  they  had  time  to 
formulate  a  western  policy;  but  it  is  not  improb- 
able that  they  would  have  withdrawn  Indian  su- 
perintendents, traders,  and  soldiers  alike  and 
shutting  the  door  on  westward  expansion  have 
sought  to  preserve  the  West  to  all  time  as  an  In- 
dian reservation. 

The  most  promising  attempt  was  now  to  be 
made  to  reach  a  real  solution  of  the  western  prob- 
lem. William  Pitt,  the  war  minister  who  in  the 
Seven  Years  War  had  won  England  her  imperial 
rank,  whose  greatness  in  English  politics  de- 
pended on  force  of  character  rather  than  the  num- 
ber of  his  henchmen  in  parliament,  by  the  king's 
command  sought  to  gather  a  ministry  undomi- 
nated  by  factions  that  would  seek  to  solve  in 
terms  of  the  public  good  the  problem  of  the 
West,  the  problem  of  the  East  India  Company 
and  the  problem  of  governmental  reorganiza- 
tions.    To  formulate  a  broad  western  policy  he 


32  The  Story  of  Illinois 

summoned  to  the  office  of  secretary  of  state  for 
the  southern  department  the  Earl  of  Shelburne. 

The  three  years  that  had  passed  since  1763  had 
given  an  opportunity  for  the  testing  by  actual 
facts  of  the  theories  of  the  earlier  period.  The 
unhappy  plight  in  which  the  Proclamation  of 
1763  had  put  the  French  Canadians  was  long 
since  apparent.  The  Indian  Department  had 
duly  gone  into  operation;  it  was  submitting  most 
astounding  bills  for  presents  made  to  the  Indians. 
Especially  generous  were  those  which  Commis- 
sary Edward  Cole  was  sending  from  the  Illinois, 
where  at  last  the  English  had  arrived.  George 
Croghan,  ablest  of  Indian  diplomatists,  and  the 
trusted  assistant  of  Sir  William  Johnson  in  the 
summer  of  1765  had  completed  the  pacification 
of  the  Indians  of  the  Wabash  country;  and  on 
October  9,  1765,  Captain  Thomas  Stirling  with 
one  hundred  men  of  the  Black  Watch  or  42d 
Highlanders  who  had  descended  the  Ohio  from 
Fort  Pitt,  relieved  the  French  garrison  at  Fort  de 
Chartres. 

Almost  immediately  it  became  apparent  that 
the  fur  trade  of  the  West  was  a  negligible  asset  to 
British  merchants.  The  news  of  the  cession  of 
Illinois  to  the  English  had  been  followed  by  a 
migration  of  many  of  the  wealthier  French  in- 
habitants across  the  river  to  the  new  villages  of 
Ste.  Genevieve  and  St.  Louis,  the  latter  founded 


[From  original  owned  by   Chicago  Historical  Society] 
(1786-  1868) 


The  Day  of  the  Briton  33 

by  Pierre  Laclede  in  1 764.  "  He  appears  "  wrote 
Captain  Gordon  in  1766,  "  to  be  sensible,  clevert 
&  has  been  very  well  educated;  is  very  active,  and 
will  give  us  some  Trouble  before  we  get  the  Parts 
of  this  Trade  that  belong  to  us  out  of  His 
Hands. " *  From  its  beginning  St.  Louis  domi- 
nated southern  Illinois.  French  traders  roamed 
at  large,  on  the  British  side  of  the  Mississippi 
where  no  British  trader  dare  set  his  foot  outside 
the  protection  of  the  posts,  even  though  he  chafed 
at  the  regulation  of  the  Indian  Department  that 
confined  him  to  them.  Under  Laclede's  guidance 
the  fur  trade  flowed  down  the  Mississippi  to 
Spanish  New  Orleans,  whose  control  of  the  river 
from  the  east  bank,  men  were  repeatedly  to  be- 
wail in  later  years.  Was  the  limited  trade  in  the 
West  worth  the  amount  it  cost  to  regulate  it? 

Further,  Shelburne  was  made  aware  of  the  ex- 
istence of  numerous  colonizing  projects  based  on 
purchases,  grants,  or  hoped  for  grants  in  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  Valleys.  Virginia  projectors, 
Pennsylvania  projectors,  Connecticut  projectors 
crowded  in,  each  with  his  map  and  his  smoothly 
written  prospectus,  each  pointing  out  that  his 
western  colony  would  enable  the  forts  to  be 
cheaply  rationed  and  would  serve  as  a  bulwark 
to  hold  the  country  for  England.  These  projects, 
many  of  them  dating  from  before  the  treaty  of 

1  The  New  Regime.     C.  W.  Alvord  and  C.  E.  Carter,  p.  300. 


34  The  Story  of  Illinois 

peace  had  been  checked  temporarily  by  the  Proc- 
lamation of  1763,  but  now  took  on  new  vigor. 

Shelburne,  as  he  conscientiously  studied  in 
every  possible  detail  the  complex  problem  before 
him,  tended  toward  certain  conclusions  derived 
in  large  part  from  the  laissez  faire  economics  he 
had  imbibed  from  Doctor  Adam  Smith,  later  au- 
thor of  the  Wealth  of  Nations.  Believing  that 
human  legislation  could  not  permanently  alter  the 
trend  of  economic  events,  he  regarded  it  as  a  vain 
endeavor  to  seek  to  chain  the  Indian  trade  by  dis- 
tant imperial  regulations  or  to  dam  up  the  in- 
evitable flow  of  settlement  over  the  West.  To 
him  the  only  possible  course  was  to  return  the  In- 
dian trade  to  the  colonies  for  such  regulation  as 
it  was  to  have;  the  westward  movement  might  be 
rendered  as  little  harmful  to  the  Indians  as  pos- 
sible by  establishing  new  colonies  in  the  West  un- 
der imperial  auspices,  but  with  almost  complete 
democratic  self-government,  their  expenses  to  be 
paid  by  quitrents  exacted  on  all  grants  of  land  by 
the  British  government.  The  very  policy  of  ex- 
pansion, that,  formulated  by  the  United  States 
in  the  Northwest  Ordinance,  was  to  cover  the 
wilderness  with  sovereign  states  on  an  equality 
with  the  original  thirteen  was  already  hovering 
in  Shelburne's  mind. 

Only  the  preliminaries  of  his  plan  were  worked 
out.     The  illness  of  the  great  William  Pitt,  now 


The  Day  of  the  Briton  35 

Earl  of  Chatham,  had  fatally  weakened  his 
ministry;  the  nominal  second  in  command,  the 
Duke  of  Grafton,  was  an  easy-going  nobleman  not 
too  fond  of  Shelburne:  "The  duke  of  Grafton " 
so  Junius  pilloried  him  to  eternity,  "has  always 
some  excellent  reason  for  deserting  his  friends."  1 
Grafton  sought  factional  support  for  his  minis- 
try; and  the  incoming  representatives  of  the  Bed- 
ford faction  made  their  bargain  for  the  removal 
of  colonial  matters  from  Shelburne's  hands.  Once 
more  the  jest  of  fate  had  made  Hillsborough  his 
successor  and  once  more  his  work  went  for 
naught. 

Meanwhile  events  had  moved  fast  in  the  Illi- 
nois. Garrison  followed  garrison  and  comman- 
dant commandant.  Stirling  was  succeeded  by 
Major  Robert  Farmar,  Farmar  by  Lieutenant 
Colonel  John  Reed  in  1766,  Reed  by  Captain 
Hugh  Forbes  in  1768,  Forbes  by  Lieutenant  Col- 
onel John  Wilkins  until  1771.  Some  of  them, 
such  as  Stirling  and  Forbes,  seem  kindly  and 
honest  men;  others,  as  Reed  and  Wilkins,  were 
tyrannical  and  corrupt,  charging  fees  for  admin- 
istering oaths  of  allegiance  to  the  inhabitants,  and 
making  their  profit  in  the  purchase  of  rations  for 
the  garrison. 

Colonial  traders  had  already  sought  the  trade 
of  the  Illinois.     In  1766  the  Philadelphia  firm  of 

1  Letters  of  Junius,  1806  Ed.  I,  p.  163. 


3  6  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Baynton,  Wharton  and  Morgan  prepared  to  em- 
bark on  the  scale  of  an  investment  of  £30,000  in 
the  Illinois  trade.  Goods  were  to  be  wagoned 
across  the  Alleghanies,  shipped  down  the  Ohio 
on  boats  built  at  Pittsburg  and  sold  in  the  Illinois 
to  the  Indians,  to  the  French  inhabitants,  and  to 
the  garrison  at  an  expected  profit  of  two  hundred 
per  cent.  The  partner  in  immediate  charge  in 
the  Illinois  was  young  George  Morgan,  effusively 
affectionate  in  letters  to  his  wife  and  perhaps  not 
too  faithful  to  her,  noisy  in  correspondence  and 
probably  also  in  speech,  hot  headed,  but  inclined 
to  temper  valor  with  discretion  when  engaged 
with  a»  superior  antagonist,  his  affection  effusive, 
but  not  nearly  so  lasting  as  his  enmity;  so  Morgan 
has  written  himself  down  for  us  in  his  preserved 
correspondence. 

A9  profits  often  do  the  two  hundred  per  cent 
failed  to  materialize.  Goods  were  seized  by  the 
lawless  "  Paxton  Boys"  of  western  Pennsylvania, 
Indian  haters  who  regarded  all  goods  destined 
for  the  redskins  as  fair  prize;  they  were  pilfered 
by  rascally  agents  at  Pittsburg  who  wasted  them 
on  fair  and  frail  ladies;  they  were  seized  by  In- 
dians on  the  route  down  the  Ohio;  when  they 
reached  the  Illinois  they  had  to  compete  with 
goods  imported  by  the  French  merchants  from 
New  Orleans;  and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Reed,  re- 
fusing to  trade  with  his  fellow  countrymen,  sup- 


The  Day  of  the  Briton  37 

plied   the    rations   of   the   garrison   through   the 
Frenchman,  Daniel  Blouin. 

All  these  difficulties  developed  in  time;  long 
before  they  all  appeared,  the  great  Philadelphia 
firm  was  in  difficulties  and  had  to  conduct  its 
business  under  the  supervision  of  its  creditors. 
Morgan  found  a  friend  with  whom  he  could  "  do 
the  needful"  as  he  put  it,  in  Lieutenant  Colonel 
John  Wilkins,  with  whom  he  was  to  quarrel  in  a 
year  or  two.  A  certain  James  Rumsey  —  still  on 
friendly  terms  with  Morgan  —  to  whom  the  part- 
ners wrote  fulsome  letters  of  gratitude,  trans- 
ported out  for  the  firm  a  large  number  of  negro 
slaves,  which  Morgan  found  an  excellent  mer- 
chandise. But  Rumsey  ultimately  joined  the 
service  of  a  rival  group  of  Lancaster,  Pennsyl- 
vania, merchants,  of  whom  William  Murray  was 
soon  to  be  the  agent  in  the  Illinois.  Between  1 770 
and  1773  this  firm  operated  much  as  the  Phila- 
delphia one  had  done,  perhaps  without  much 
larger  profits.  Even  if  Illinois  was  a  frontier  in 
that  day,  large  scale  business  was  done  in  it. 
Morgan  despatched  his  Virginia  hunters  to  west- 
ern Kentucky  to  kill  and  salt  buffalo  beef  for  the 
garrison,  and  reported  game  badly  thinned  by 
French  interlopers  from  over  the  Mississippi, 
years  before  the  crack  of  Daniel  Boone's  rifle 
was  ever  heard  in  the  bounds  of  the  common- 
wealth. 


3 8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

The  French  population  in  the  Illinois  was  a 
serious  problem.  The  English  ministry  at  first 
felt  aggrieved  that  it  should  remain  there  and  till 
1774  made  no  official  provision  for  its  govern- 
ment. Captain  Stirling  authorized  one  La 
Grange  to  decide  disputes  according  to  the  law 
of  the  country  and  in  1768  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Wilkins  established  a  civil  court,  partly  no  doubt 
to  assist  his  friend,  George  Morgan,  in  collecting 
debts  from  French  merchants.  At  first  it  con- 
sisted mainly  of  Englishmen;  between  1769  and 
1770  all  of  them  but  Morgan  were  replaced  by 
Frenchmen.  March  4,  1770,  the  court  was  given 
criminal  jurisdiction;  but  Morgan  soon  quarreled 
with  Wilkins,  and  the  court  after  June  6,  1770, 
ceased  to  function. 

The  religious  problem  was  no  less  serious.  Be- 
fore England  took  possession  of  the  Illinois, 
France  had  decreed  the  banishment  of  the  Jesuits 
from  all  her  domains;  the  possessions  of  the  So- 
ciety in  the  Illinois  were  confiscated  and  its  fathers 
expelled.  One  of  the  Seminary  priests,  presuma- 
bly fearing  the  heretic  English  would  not  respect 
the  possessions  of  a  Catholic  Mission,  sold  with- 
out due  authority  for  much  less  than  its  value  the 
property  of  the  Seminary  at  Cahokia  and  left  a 
community  of  devout  Catholics  scattered  from 
the  Wabash  to  the  Mississippi  without  any 
spiritual  guidance  whatever.    As  English  law  still 


The  Day  of  the  Briton  39 


prohibited  the  Catholic  hierarchy,  no  organiza- 
tion existed  to  supply  the  want  till  Monseigneur 
Jean  Olivier  Briand  with  the  title  of  superintend- 
ent was  allowed  to  function  as  Bishop  of  Quebec 
in   1766. 

Meanwhile,  one  of  the  banished  Jesuits,  Father 
Meurin,  gained  permission  to  return  to  the  care 
of  his  flock.  His  story  would  be  a  pitiful  one 
were  it  not  illuminated  by  his  saintliness  and  resig- 
nation. Old  and  feeble  of  body,  he  labored 
heavily  at  his  task.  The  Spaniards  drove  him 
from  the  western  side  of  the  river  when  he  ac- 
cepted from  Briand  the  powers  of  apostolic  vicar. 
Despite  the  threat  of  being  sent  in  chains  to  New 
Orleans  he  returned  secretly  when  he  was  needed. 
The  Jesuits  in  the  day  of  their  power  had  made 
themselves  hated  by  continually  setting  on  the 
civil  power  to  punish ;  and  now  many  men  with- 
held their  confessions  from  Meurin  as  a  Jesuit, 
and  accused  him  of  avarice.  He  toiled  to  the 
limit  of  his  feeble  physical  powers,  uncomplain- 
ing, vaunting  not  himself,  asking  of  his  superior 
only  that  laborers  be  sent  into  the  harvest  to  re- 
lieve him. 

In  answer  to  his  prayer  there  came  a  young 
priest  Pierre  Gibault.  Aggressive,  with  an  ex- 
cellent opinion  of  himself,  with  all  the  arts  of 
popularity,  he  soon  gained  the  affections  of  the 
people,   pushed  his  way  to  Vincennes  to  be   re- 


4°  The  Story  of  Illinois 

ceived  there  with  the  deepest  feeling  of  delight 
by  Catholics  who  feared  damnation  for  their  lack 
of  the  ordinances  of  the  church.  Gibault  was 
fond  of  Meurin,  but  regarded  him  with  pity  as 
feeble  in  mind  as  well  as  body.  There  was  little 
of  the  saint  about  Gibault.  He  petitioned  Briand 
to  be  allowed  to  bear  arms  to  defend  himself 
against  the  savages.  Ingenuously  he  confessed 
his  love  of  liberty  was  such  that  a  rebuke  from 
his  superior  put  him  at  death's  door.  The  spirit 
of  a  younger  generation  unused  to  obedience  and 
resignation  spoke  in  him. 

In  the  later  years  of  English  rule  the  French 
inhabitants  were  manifesting  the  same  spirit.  In 
1 77 1  they  sent  Daniel  Bloiiin  to  General  Gage 
the  British  commander-in-chief  in  America  to 
represent  their  desire  for  a  civil  government 
modeled  on  that  of  Connecticut.  Gage  naturally 
rejected  the  proposal.  The  occasion  gave  rise  to 
a  most  interesting  publication  —  the  Invitation 
Serieuse  aux  Habitants  des  Illinois.  It  called  on 
the  Illinois  French  to  proceed  vigorously  in  ex- 
ploiting the  economic  resources  of  their  country, 
to  establish  schools,  and  to  accept  the  new  regime 
in  industry  and  made  the  best  of  it.  The  restless 
American  spirit  and  love  of  liberty  had  already 
fired  the  docile  French  of  the  Illinois. 

In  these  same  years  the  English  ministry  had 
been  little  by  little  reaching  a  decision  of  pure 


The  Day  of  the  Briton  4r 

negation.  There  was  a  period  of  hesitancy.  To 
the  eye  of  the  ministry  the  real  situation  of  the 
distant  West  lay  as  obscure  as  though  veiled  in 
the  morning  mists  that  rise  from  the  bosom  of 
its  great  river.  Now  reports  would  come  to  them 
with  a  note  of  optimism.  Strong  garrisons  and 
forts  at  the  mouths  of  the  Wabash  and  the  Illi- 
nois would  shut  out  the  French  traders.  Western 
colonies  of  British  subjects  would  supply  the  gar- 
risons with  cheap  food  and  support  them  in  time 
of  war.  A  little  patience,  above  all  a  little  more 
expenditure  and  the  prize  of  trade  and  possession 
would  be  in  their  grasp. 

Then  alternated  pessimism.  The  trade  was 
bound  to  follow  the  course  of  the  Mississippi  to 
New  Orleans;  the  endeavor  to  divert  it  through 
British  territory  by  cutting  a  canal  outlec  to  the 
sea  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Iberville  was 
fruitless.  The  expense  of  the  garrisons  was  very 
great,  they  would  be  useless  in  time  of  war,  their 
walls  were  falling  in  decay,  and  there  was  no 
British  fur  trade  left  for  them  to  protect.  Col- 
onies would  only  inspire  the  Indians  with  resent- 
ment and  cause  a  new  war.  Month  by  month  the 
reports  foreboded  an  Indian  war  in  spite  of  all 
efforts  to  avert  it,  especially  after  April,  1769, 
when  the  great  Pontiac  had  fallen  at  Cahokia 
under  the  tomahawk  of  an  Illinois  bribed  by  the 
English.      To   these   latter   voices    Hillsborough 


42  The  Story  of  Illinois 

came  more  and  more  to  listen;  and  General  Gage, 
a  political  soldier,  tuned  his  reports  to  fit  the 
mood  of  the  secretary. 

Hillsborough  therefore  adopted  Shelburne's 
plan  of  dropping  imperial  regulation  of  Indian 
trade;  he  dropped  also  the  project  of  colonies. 
Finally  he  decided  to  abandon  most  of  the  western 
posts.  Fort  de  Chartres  was  demolished  in  1772 
as  a  military  post,  though  its  stone  works  still 
survive  in  fact  as  a  memento  of  French  Illinois. 
A  little  garrison  was  kept  in  the  Illinois  however, 
at  Fort  Gage  at  Kaskaskia.  The  ministry  had 
drifted  under  the  control  of  Bedfords  and  Gren- 
villes;  but  its  policy  was  now  centered  on  the  exer- 
tion and  display  of  the  imperial  authority  over 
the  contumacious  inhabitants  of  the  seaboard;  it 
had  no  inclination  for  the  imperial  exploitation  of 
the  West. 

With  imperial  control  not  present  to  direct 
the  westward  movement,  government  officials  and 
private  men  alike  were  exploiting  the  West  for 
themselves.  At  the  actual  running  of  the  Indian 
boundary  tentatively  laid  down  in  the  Proclama- 
tion of  1763  the  complacency  of  John  Stuart  the 
southern  Indian  superintendent  and  strange  mis- 
takes on  the  part  of  surveyors  pushed  it  as  far 
west  as  the  Kentucky  River.  At  the  treaty  of  Fort 
Stanwix  in  1768  Sir  William  Johnson  accepted  of 
the  Iroquois  a  similar  cession  of  the  greater  part 


The  Day  of  the  Briton  43 

of  Kentucky.  The  lawless  white  frontiersmen 
began  to  swarm  over  the  mountains;  before  them 
even  came  the  surveyors  and  agents  of  the  land 
speculators,  choosing  the  choicest  tracts  far  down 
the  Ohio.  In  1774  Richard  Henderson  of  North 
Carolina  scented  a  revolution  on  the  way  that 
would  throw  the  West  open  to  American  settle- 
ment and  projected  his  Transylvania  colony  in 
central  Kentucky.  In  1773  and  1775  William 
Murray,  acting  in  the  latter  year  as  agent  for 
Lord  Dunmore,  the  land  speculating  royal  gover- 
nor of  Virginia,  bought  of  the  Indians  two  great 
tracts  of  land  on  the  Illinois  and  Wabash  Rivers. 
The  British  government  found  that  if  it  would 
not  adopt  a  decisive  policy  its  subjects  would. 
Ever  since  1769  it  had  been  coquetting  with  a 
scheme  for  a  colony  on  the  upper  course  of  the 
Ohio,  Vandalia,  for  which  the  astute  Samuel 
Wharton  of  Baynton,  Wharton  and  Morgan,  had 
adroitly  secured  plenty  of  the  best  social  and 
political  backing;  Hillsborough  had  been  driven 
from  office  on  the  pretext  that  he  opposed  it.  But 
the  news  of  the  Boston  Tea  Party  of  December, 
1773,  ruined  Vandalia's  chances.  The  British 
ministry  pressed  through  the  Quebec  Act  of  1774. 
Originally  designed  to  restore  to  the  French  of 
Canada  their  law,  the  full  exercise  of  their  re- 
ligion, and  relief  from  a  representative  govern- 
ment  exercised   among   them   by   a    handful   of 


44  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Englishmen,  it  sought  to  deal  with  the  problem  of 
the  Illinois  by  extending  the  bounds  of  Quebec 
to  take  in  the  whole  Northwest.  Not  only  would 
this  allow  the  little  French  settlements  at  Detroit, 
Ouiatenon,  Vincennes  and  the  Illinois  to  be  gov- 
erned economically  by  representatives  of  the 
governor  at  Quebec;  the  presence  of  French  law 
might  keep  out  English  settlers  and  land  specula- 
tors, check  lawless  land  purchases,  and  tie  the 
trade  to  Montreal  and  its  Scotch  merchants. 

On  this  note  of  negation  ends  the  eleven  years 
of  British  opportunity  in  the  Illinois.  The  British 
government  had  shown  itself  as  incapable  of  pro- 
jecting the  orderly  settlement  of  the  West  as  it 
had  of  incorporating  the  Atlantic  seaboard  col- 
onies in  an  imperial  system.  It  had  hoped  to 
maintain  the  status  quo  indefinitely  in  the  West  by 
the  means  of  the  Quebec  Act.  The  inevitable 
taking  possession  of  the  interior  by  the  new 
American  people  might  have  been  regulated  as 
Shelburne  had  wished  to  do;  but  it  was  to  be 
checked  neither  by  paper  proclamations,  nor  the 
terms  of  Acts  of  Parliament.  France  had  failed 
in  the  Illinois  because  she  had  no  materials  there 
for  building  a  strong  colony.  England  had  failed 
because  by  her  regulations  she  defied  great  human 
forces.  As  the  imperial  opportunity  offered  her 
in  1763  fades  out  in  the  Quebec  Act  of  1774  cer- 
tain facts   remain.     The  squatter  and  the  land 


The  Day  of  the  Briton  45 

speculator,  familiar  figures  of  the  frontier  for  a 
century  before  and  a  century  and  a  quarter  to 
follow,  have  passed  the  edge  of  the  Great  Valley. 
The  French  in  Illinois  have  become  restive,  and 
are  dreaming  of  a  state  of  things  in  which  they 
may  work  out  their  destiny  independent  of  Down- 
ing Street  and  Versailles  alike.  Most  important 
of  all,  Pennsylvania  trader  and  Virginia  hunter 
have  found  the  path  to  the  Illinois;  if  the  oppor- 
tunity invites  thither  they  may  tread  it  again. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  AMERICAN  CONQUEST 

IN  MANY  respects  the  American  Revolution 
was  a  frontier  movement.  In  colony  after 
colony  the  dwellers  in  the  up-country  were  the 
deciding  weight  in  the  scale  of  revolt  against 
British  rule.  Many  of  them  were  non-British  in 
race;  they  chafed  at  the  British  policy  of  barring 
the  West  to  them;  and  compared  with  the  tide 
water  colonists  their  sense  of  the  social  prestige 
that  reflected  from  London,  and  their  respect  for 
British  military  and  naval  power  was  of  the 
slightest.  Almost  coincident  in  point  of  time  with 
the  Revolution  was  the  first  great  rush  of  settle- 
ment in  the  Ohio  Valley;  and  the  need  of  pro- 
tecting the  new  settlements  against  the  tomahawks 
of  British  Indians  led  to  projected  attacks  on  De- 
troit and  the  conquest  of  the  French  villages  in 
the  Illinois  by  George  Rogers  Clark.  Ultimately 
this  last  contributed  to  the  diplomatic  situation 
that  in  the  treaty  of  1783  gave  the  United  States 
title  to  Illinois  and  the  Northwest. 

The  story  of  the  conquest  of  the  Illinois  is, 
then,  interwoven  with  the  story  of  the  Revolution 
in  the  West ;  and  that  story  begins  with  Dunmore's 

46 


The  American  Conquest  47 

War,  in  the  summer  of  1774;  when,  goaded  by 
continual  encroachment  from  squatter  and  sur- 
veyor in  the  Ohio  Valley  the  Indians  raised  the 
hatchet.  Lord  Dunmore,  last  royal  governor  of 
Virginia,  himself  foremost  among  the  land  specu- 
lators, proclaimed  a  crusade  against  the  redskins 
in  which  backwoodsman  and  speculator  joined. 
"The  Oppertunty  we  hav  So  long  wished  for,  is 
now  before  us,"  wrote  Colonel  William  Preston 
of  the  frontier  Virginia  county  of  Fincastle.1 
The  Indians  were  defeated  near  the  site  of 
Charleston,  West  Virginia,  at  the  battle  of  Point 
Pleasant;  but  before  the  day  in  1775  which  was 
to  see  the  definitive  treaty,  Dunmore  was  a 
refugee  on  a  British  ship  of  war;  and  some  of 
his  former  associates  in  the  war,  securing  posses- 
sion of  Fort  Pitt  negotiated  the  final  treaty  in 
the  name  and  interests  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress. 

Not  all  Dunmore's  associates  joined  the  Revo- 
lution. Refugees  among  the  British  like  the 
Girtys  and  Alexander  McKee,  hated  from  one 
end  of  the  frontier  to  the  other,  were  to  marshal 
the  Indians  in  the  British  interest  against  Ken- 
tucky. To  Dr.  John  Connelly,  for  thirty  years 
the  stormy  petrel  of  the  northwest  frontier, 
occurred  the  project  of  leading  a  British  and  In- 
dian expedition  from  Detroit  to  seize  Fort  Pitt, 

1  Kellogg,  Dunmore' s  War,  93. 


48  The  Story  of  Illinois 

break  the  rebellion  in  the  back  country,  and  ulti- 
mately establish  communication  with  the  British 
fleet.  The  American  attack  on  Canada  of  1775 
frustrated  the  scheme.  No  forces  could  be  spared 
from  the  defense  of  essential  points  like  Quebec 
and  Montreal;  and  Connelly's  plans  in  the  hands 
of  Lieutenant  Governor  Henry  Hamilton  of  De- 
troit degenerated  into  a  series  of  Indian  raids  on 
the  new  Kentucky  settlements  in  1777.  The  In- 
dians it  is  true  were  urged  to  take  prisoners,  but 
they  usually  took  scalps.  In  1776  George  Mor- 
gan, formerly  trader  in  the  Illinois,  took  station 
at  Fort  Pitt  as  Indian  commissioner  for  Congress 
in  the  middle  district,  seeking  to  keep  the  Indians 
friendly  to  the  United  States;  but  murders  by 
lawless  whites  and  the  constant  encroachment  of 
new  settlers  made  his  task  supremely  difficult. 
From  end  to  end  the  frontier  was  harried  by 
bands,  often  led  by  renegades  like  the  Girtys. 

The  Americans,  however,  had  soon  discovered 
that  down  the  Mississippi  lay  needed  military 
stores  and  supplies  presided  over  by  a  Spanish 
governor  whose  neutrality  toward  the  United 
States  was  most  benevolent.  In  1776-7  powder 
was  run  up  the  river  from  New  Orleans  to  Wheel- 
ing, probably  with  the  assistance  of  some  men  in 
the  Illinois  country.  In  1778  Captain  George 
Willing  set  out  on  a  grand  expedition  of  plunder 
against  the  hapless  British  settlements  in  West 


The  American  Conquest  49 

Florida.  It  served  as  a  feint  to  distract  atten- 
tion from  Clark's  blow  at  the  Illinois  in  that  very 
year. 

Men's  minds  were  not  only  turned  to  the  South- 
west. It  was  becoming  clearer  and  clearer  that 
Detroit  was  the  strategic  point  in  the  British 
position  in  the  West.  Its  loss  would  confine  them 
to  Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie;  and  the  upper  lake 
region  and  the  Mississippi  would  slip  from  their 
grasp.  In  1776  both  Morgan  and  General 
Arthur  St.  Clair  had  urged  a  blow  from  Fort  Pitt 
at  Detroit,  and  in  1777  and  1778  expeditions 
under  Continental  generals  were  actually  pro- 
jected. In  the  latter  year  George  Rogers  Clark 
carried  out  his  project  of  seizing  the  Illinois  coun- 
try both  as  a  link  with  the  Spaniards  across  the 
Mississippi  and  at  New  Orleans  and  as  a  base 
for  an  attack  on  Detroit. 

It  is  necessary  to  glance  back  at  the  situation 
in  the  Illinois  villages.  In  1772,  after  the  dis- 
mantling of  Fort  de  Chartres  Captain  Hugh  Lord 
had  gathered  the  little  English  garrison  at  Kas- 
kaskia.  His  relations  with  the  French  inhabitants 
were  pleasant.  The  Quebec  Act  designated  Vin- 
cennes,  Detroit,  and  the  Illinois  as  districts  each 
to  be  governed  by  a  lieutenant  governor  and 
judges;  but  the  lieutenant  governor  for  the  Illinois 
had  never  repaired  to  his  post.  In  1776  Captain 
Lord  and  his  garrison  were  withdrawn  for  use 


5°  The  Story  of  Illinois 

farther  east;  and  Lord  deputed  his  authority  to 
Phillippe  de  Rocheblave,  last  of  the  British  com- 
mandants in  the  Illinois. 

De  Rocheblave's  record  had  not  been  overly 
prepossessing.  He  had  begun  his  career  in  the 
French  regime  acquiring  speedily  a  reputation  for 
intrigue;  had  governed  at  Ste.  Genevieve  for  the 
Spaniards,  but  had  left  his  post  under  a  cloud. 
In  1776  he  was  available  for  chance  employment, 
and  accordingly,  without  subordinates,  troops,  or 
funds  was  left  to  exert  in  the  Illinois  such  author- 
ity as  the  inhabitants  would  let  him. 

Under  the  circumstances  he  accomplished  as 
much  perhaps  as  anyone  could  have  done.  He 
had  the  support  of  Cerre  and  Viviat,  two  of  the 
most  substantial  Frenchmen  of  the  villages,  and 
of  the  lesser  inhabitants;  but  such  resident  Eng- 
lishmen as  Thomas  Bentley,  William  Murray, 
and  others  who  had  come  for  trade  were  out- 
spoken in  their  opposition.  Rocheblave  wrote 
long  reports  to  his  superiors,  begging  for  support, 
but  he  wrote  and  implored  in  vain.  Through  his 
letters  runs  the  note  of  foreseen  disaster  impend- 
ing. The  Spanish  commandant  across  the  river 
has  told  the  Indians  that  when  the  corn  is  so  high 
he  will  have  something  to  tell  them.  Bentley  is 
a  traitor  he  dares  not  have  arrested  till  he  is  lured 
away  to  Mackinac.  Some  of  the  inhabitants  have 
supplied  boats  bringing  munitions  to  the  Amer- 


The  American  Conquest  Sl 


icans  from  New  Orleans.  He  is  surrounded  by 
spies,  traitors  and  enemies.  The  last  of  these 
letters  he  penned  July  4,  1778,  the  day  George 
Rogers  Clark  broke  in  on  him. 

The  figure  of  Clark  is  one  of  the  stateliest  and 
most  pathetic  in  American  history.  He  was  now 
twenty-six  years  old.  At  twenty  he  had  first  come 
to  the  Ohio  country;  at  twenty-two  he  had  served 
in  Dunmore's  War.  He  had  been  instrumental 
in  securing  the  absorption  of  Henderson's  colony 
of  Transylvania  into  the  Virginia  county  of  Ken- 
tucky. As  major  of  militia  in  the  new  county  he 
decided  to  protect  his  charge  by  capturing  the 
British  bases  for  the  Indian  raids.  Never  success- 
ful so  far,  to  the  end  of  the  Revolution  with  in- 
adequate resources  in  men  and  means,  he  kept  the 
grip  on  the  region  of  the  Ohio  that  helped  to 
secure  it  for  the  United  States  in  1783.  His  later 
years  beset  by  poverty  and  drink,  in  which  he  in- 
trigued with  Spaniard  and  Frenchman,  are  pitiful. 
He  prided  himself  much  on  his  strong  resem- 
blance to  George  Washington  in  form  and  feature ; 
like  him  also  in  courage,  resource,  and  resolution, 
he  fell  short  of  that  perfect  balance  in  character, 
that  wisdom  in  public  and  private  concerns  alike, 
that  makes  Washington  nearer  the  ideal  citizen 
of  the  Greek  philosophers  than  any  other  man 
who  has  arisen  in  the  twenty-odd  centuries  since 
they  first  framed  it.    Washington  could  render  his 


52  The  Story  of  Illinois 

country  supreme  service  and  at  the  same  time  lay 
the  foundations  of  a  great  estate.  Clark  con- 
quered for  Virginia  an  abiding  place  for  twenty 
millions  of  his  countrymen,  but  lived  to  see  him- 
self a  poverty  stricken  stranger  in  it. 

It  was  in  December  of  1777  that  Clark  ob- 
tained the  consent  of  Governor  Thomas  Jefferson 
of  Virginia  to  his  scheme  of  conquest;  the  next 
spring  he  set  out,  collecting  his  meager  forces  at 
the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  near  the  present  site  of 
Louisville.  With  a  little  band  thinned  by  deser- 
tion to  a  hundred  and  seventy-five  rifles  he  floated 
down  the  Ohio  to  the  site  of  Fort  Massiac  whence 
he  struck  out  overland  for  Kaskaskia  rather  than 
stem  the  current  of  the  Mississippi  with  his  boats. 
He  arrived  at  Kaskaskia  the  evening  of  July  4, 
1778.  Rocheblave  could  not  muster  the  French 
militia  against  him.  Clark  won  over  Cerre  and 
Father  Gibault,  the  busy  young  priest  sent  out 
by  Briand  ten  years  before,  and  the  French  in- 
habitants joyfully  embraced  the  cause  of  Amer- 
ican liberty.  Gibault  hastened  off  to  Vincennes 
and  persuaded  the  inhabitants  to  accept  the 
American  cause  and,  transferring  their  allegiance, 
to  sign  the  famous  Oath  of  Vincennes.  Clark 
made  treaties  with  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  North- 
west. He  supported  his  little  army  by  supplies 
purchased  from  the  inhabitants  with  drafts  on 
New  Orleans  drawn  on  Oliver  Pollock  the  loyal 


GEORGE    ROGERS    CLARK 

(1752-1818) 
[From  a  copy  by  Edwards  of  Jarvis's  portrait;  the  copy  being  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society] 


The  American  Conquest  53 

financial  agent  of  Virginia  who  in  keeping  Clark 
supplied  was  to  ruin  himself. 

On  hearing  of  Clark's  success  the  Virginia  as- 
sembly December  9,  1778,  created  the  County 
of  Illinois  as  a  county  of  Virginia.  Three  days 
later  John  Todd  was  appointed  county  lieutenant. 
On  his  arrival  in  the  Illinois  he  laid  off  in  his 
county,  as  large  as  an  empire,  three  districts, 
Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  Vincennes;  in  each  of  these 
a  court  of  justice  was  elected  by  the  inhabitants. 
The  Illinois  country  was  now  a  part  of  the  Old 
Dominion. 

Clark's  work  of  conquest  was  by  no  means  com- 
plete. In  the  early  winter  of  1778-9  Governor 
Hamilton  of  Detroit  launched  an  expedition, 
English,  French,  and  Indian,  against  Vincennes. 
The  fickle  French,  unwilling  to  fight  against  their 
countrymen,  deserted  their  leader,  Captain  Helm, 
who  surrendered  to  Hamilton.  The  "Hair 
buyer"  now  only  awaited  settled  weather  in  the 
spring  to  recapture  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia  in 
the  same  way. 

Clark  saw  the  situation  demanded  desperate 
measures.  With  what  was  left  of  his  Virginia 
forces  and  with  the  French  of  the  Illinois  he  set 
out  for  Vincennes  across  the  swollen  rivers  and 
flooded  bottom  lands  of  an  Illinois  February. 
The  story  of  that  journey,  of  weary  men  wading 
for  miles  in  water  reaching  to  the  waist  or  the 


54  The  Story  of  Illinois 

neck,  crossing  one  by  one  the  swollen  tributaries 
of  the  Wabash  without  place  to  rest  for  days  to- 
gether, spurred  on  by  the  indomitable  will  of  their 
leader,  is  one  of  the  great  episodes  of  Illinois 
history.  Arrived  at  Vincennes,  Clark,  by  the  art 
of  bluffing  he  understood  so  well,  separated  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town  from  the  "  Hair  buyer," 
Hamilton,  besieged  him  in  Fort  Sackville  in  the 
town  and  took  him  and  his  forces  prisoner. 

With  the  recapture  of  Vincennes  and  the  taking 
of  Hamilton,  Clark  stood  at  the  zenith  of  his 
achievements.  All  that  seemed  left  to  be  done 
was  to  complete  his  original  plan  by  the  capture 
of  Detroit,  which  would  bar  the  British  once  and 
for  all  from  the  upper  lakes  and  the  upper  Mis- 
sissippi. Clark  failed  to  take  Detroit  in  1779  be- 
cause three  hundred  Kentuckians  under  Colonel 
John  Bowman  instead  of  cooperating  with  him 
went  on  a  futile  Indian  raid.  In  the  fall  of  that 
year  Clark  disposed  his  forces  in  the  Illinois 
villages  and  at  Vincennes,  himself  taking  post  at 
Fort  Jefferson  at  the  Iron  Banks  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi a  few  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio. 
He  hoped  to  take  Detroit  in  the  spring  of  1780. 
But  the  French  were  tired  of  supplying  his  troops 
for  pay  in  paper  money  and  the  commander  at 
Pittsburg  failed  to  cooperate.  Instead  of  taking 
the  offensive  Clark  planned  to  withdraw  his  forces 
to  Fort  Jefferson,  and  there  from  a  position  in 


The  American  Conquest  $$ 

readiness  prevent  the  British  from  reoccupying 
the  Illinois. 

Illinois  was  still  a  scene  of  military  operations. 
In  1780  the  British  launched  a  direct  attack  upon 
the  French  villages  in  the  Illinois  and  St.  Louis; 
but  Clark  returned  to  the  defense  of  Cahokia,  and 
the  attacks  on  both  sides  of  the  river  were  beaten 
off.  Later  in  the  same  year  a  French  officer,  La 
Balme,  came  to  the  Illinois,  under  what  auspices 
and  for  what  purpose  is  not  clear.  He  led  an  ill- 
considered  expedition  of  Illinois  French  against 
Detroit  but  was  defeated  and  killed  on  the  way. 
In  revenge  early  in  1781  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Spanish  commandant  at  St.  Louis,  the  French 
from  both  sides  of  the  river  captured  the  British 
fort  at  St.  Joseph,  held  it  for  a  day  and  then  re- 
treated as  they  had  come.  Save  for  Indian  raids 
and  murders  becoming  more  and  more  frequent 
as  the  war  drew  to  a  close  the  active  operations 
in  Illinois  ended. 

The  Illinois  villages  in  the  years  after  1779 
were  sinking  fast  into  anarchy.  The  inhabitants 
soon  recovered  sufficiently  from  their  first  en- 
thusiasm for  liberty  to  discover  that  the  Virginia 
paper  currency  proffered  them  for  supplies  was 
sadly  depreciated.  Drafts  drawn  by  Clark  on 
Oliver  Pollock  at  New  Orleans  exhausted  Pol- 
lock's private  fortune  long  before  his  patriotism. 
The  French  villagers  in  the  Illinois  were  not  so 


5  6  The  Story  of  Illinois 

primitive  as  not  to  have  a  somewhat  sophisticated 
view  of  credit  and  commercial  transactions;  they 
began  to  withhold  supplies.  Withholding  sup- 
plies from  Clark's  Kentucky  backwoodsmen  was 
an  ill  task,  however,  and  in  various  ways  they 
supplied  themselves.  The  French  were  soon  at 
odds  with  their  deliverers. 

John  Todd  and  his  elected  county  courts  made 
some  attempt  to  intervene  in  behalf  of  the  in- 
habitants. But  in  November,  1779,  Todd  left 
the  Illinois  forever,  designating  Richard  Winston 
as  his  deputy.  Of  the  courts  he  had  established, 
the  Cahokia  court  preserved  its  authority  and 
maintained  its  regular  elections  till  the  establish- 
ment of  county  government  under  the  Northwest 
Ordinance  in  1790.  The  Vincennes  court  held 
office  till  1787,  the  justices  successfully  staving  off 
elections  to  fill  their  places.  The  Kaskaskia  court 
had  the  most  troublous  experiences  of  any,  fall- 
ing victim  finally  to  the  opposition  of  the  Amer- 
ican settlers. 

The  year  1779  is  important  in  the  history  of 
Illinois  as  the  year  of  the  coming  of  the  first 
Americans  to  make  their  permanent  homes  in  the 
Illinois.  The  first  settlement  in  the  Kaskaskia 
district  at  Bellefontaine  dates  from  this  year. 
In  the  course  of  the  next  year  or  two,  appear  such 
names  familiar  in  later  Illinois  history  as  Moore, 
Oglesby,  Shadrach  Bond.     In  the  Cahokia   dis- 


The  American  Conquest  57 

trict  the  first  American  settlement  was  at  the 
Grand  Ruisseau.  Differing  from  the  French  in 
manners,  language,  religion,  and  custom,  satisfied 
of  their  own  superiority,  defiant  of  law  and  gov- 
ernment not  of  their  own  choice,  the  Americans 
added  to  the  difficulty  of  maintaining  orderly  au- 
thority, some  of  them  soon  becoming  the  tools  of 
the  tyranny  of  John  Dodge. 

John  Dodge,  of  Connecticut  origin,  first  made 
his  appearance  in  the  Illinois  in  1780  engaged 
with  Thomas  Bentley  in  buying  up  claims  on  Vir- 
ginia at  a  heavy  discount.  In  1781  they  went  east 
to  collect,  but  that  same  year  Dodge  reappeared. 
He  charged  Richard  Winston,  deputy  county  lieu- 
tenant with  treason  and  kept  him  in  prison  for  a 
time.  The  Kaskaskia  court  did  not  show  what 
Winston  thought  sufficient  energy  in  assisting  him, 
and  he  abolished  the  court  in  November,  1782. 
Next  year  he  returned  to  Virginia,  leaving  the 
Sieur  Timothe  de  Monbreun  as  his  successor,  a 
man  whose  connection  with  the  founding  of  Nash- 
ville reminds  us  that  a  trade  on  the  Mississippi, 
Tennessee,  and  Cumberland  had  already  de- 
veloped. De  Monbreun  failed  to  restrain 
Dodge  who  fortified  the  old  fort  above  Kaskas- 
kia, and  with  a  few  American  adventurers  ruled 
with  a  heavy  and  corrupt  hand  over  the  luckless 
French  inhabitants. 

For  almost  five  years  a  second  migration  of 


58  The  Story  of  Illinois 

French  across  the  river  to  Spanish  rule  had  been 
taking  place.     Gibault  had  gone  in   1778,  Cerre 
in    1779.     The   French  who  could  not  transfer 
their  possessions  across  the  river  were  reduced  to 
petitioning  for  relief  the  far  away  Congress  of 
the  Confederation.     January  5,   1782,  the  legal 
existence  of  the  Virginian  county  of  Illinois  came 
to  an  end  with  the  act  creating  it.     Till  the  ques- 
tion was  settled  as  to  whether  the  government  of 
the  West  should  be  vested  in  the  states  or  in  the 
nation  the  unhappy  habitants  might  look  in  vain 
for  legal  government.    In  June  of  1786  the  Kas- 
kaskians  petitioned  Congress  against  Dodge,  al- 
leging he  was  the  tool  of  British  traders;  and 
Congress  took  the  petition  under  advisement.    In 
1787  the  Kaskaskians  elected  a  new  court;  but  the 
political  address  of  the  Americans  at  Bellefon- 
taine  secured  the  choice  of  Americans  for  half 
the  places  in  it.     The  impossibility  of  conducting 
a  court  so  split  between  races  and  languages  led 
to  its  division  into  two.     General  Harmar,  the 
commander  of  the  American  troops  in  the  West, 
visited  the  Illinois  in  1787;  but  he  felt  the  bland- 
ishments and  hospitality  of  Dodge  and  fell  in 
with  his  insinuations  that  the  French  were  unfit 
for  self-government. 

The  news  of  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance  of 
1787  threw  the  Kaskaskia  district  in  deeper 
anarchy  were  it  possible.    The  legal  authority  of 


The  American  Conquest  59 

its  court  could  thenceforth  be  defied  as  nonexist- 
ent. John  Dodge  in  his  hilltop  citadel  with  his 
band  of  supporters  was  the  very  image  of  the 
tyrant  of  a  Greek  city  state  of  twenty-three  cen- 
turies before.  The  Spanish  commandant  encour- 
aged Indian  raids  on  the  Illinois  to  attract  settlers 
to  the  comparative  order  of  the  Spanish  side;  the 
Indians  robbed  and  murdered;  white  men  were 
equally  lawless;  neither  property  nor  female 
virtue  was  safe. 

At  Cahokia  things  went  better.  Despite  the 
theory  of  French  incapacity  for  self-government 
the  court  there  maintained  its  authority.  When 
the  Americans  at  Grand  Ruisseau  sought  to  set 
up  an  independent  court,  the  French  court  re- 
pressed the  scheme  and  put  the  malcontents  in 
irons.  Eventually,  however,  the  Americans  of 
Grand  Ruisseau  and  Bellefontaine  were  allowed 
to  unite  in  a  court  of  their  own.  Even  at  this  dis- 
order was  rife.  John  Edgar,  a  man  of  property, 
one  of  the  later  American  settlers,  in  1789  prom- 
ised that  he  could  hold  out  till  March  of  1790. 
If  stable  government  did  not  come  by  then,  he 
must  abandon  the  Illinois  for  good.  But  on 
March  5,  1790,  Governor  Arthur  St.  Clair  ar- 
rived at  Kaskaskia,  and  the  course  of  the  Illinois 
country  as  a  part  of  the  Northwest  Territory 
began. 

We  must  now  turn  back  to  trace  the  course  of 


60  The  Story  of  Illinois 

events  by  which  the  United  States  secured  the 
Northwest  and  made  the  first  steps  toward  pro- 
viding for  its  government.    The  acquisition  of  the 
territory  was  the  result  of  an  intricate  tangle  of 
diplomacy    internal    and    external.      Since    1778 
France  had  been  the  ally  of  the  United  States 
and  at  war  with  Great  Britain.    Since  1779  Spain 
had   been   involved   in   the   war   as  the   ally   of 
France.    Much  has  been  written  as  to  the  attitude 
of  those  powers  toward  the  young  nation.     The 
view  that  France  had  dreams  of  recovering  the 
Northwest  and  perhaps  Canada  has  the  support 
of  Professor  Frederick  J.  Turner,  who  sees  in 
La  Balme's  expedition  a  corroboration;  but  the 
present  balance  of  authority  is  the  other  way. 
France  entered  the  war  with  a  view  to  reviving 
her  lost  prestige  in  European  politics  by  the  de- 
feat of  her  old  rival,  England.    She  was  probably 
at  all  times  disposed  to  fulfill  the  specific  terms 
of  her  bargain  with  the  United  States;  but  she 
had  also  to  satisfy  her  ally,  Spain;  and  to  do  both 
was  a  difficult  matter. 

Spain  had  entered  the  war  under  the  influence 
of  the  imperialist  revival  she  experienced  in  the 
second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  ^  In  those 
years  she  was  extending  her  possessions  in  Califor- 
nia ;  she  hoped  in  the  war  to  recover  the  Floridas, 
lost  to  England  in  1763  and  the  fortress  of 
Gibraltar  lost  sixty  years  before.    But  her  colonial 


The  American  Conquest  61 

empire  was  to  be  one  of  absolute  rulers  and  doc- 
ile subjects;  and  the  example  of  rebellious  colo- 
nists and  lawless  frontiersmen  was  one  which  she 
wished  to  keep  far  from  her  borders.  She 
wished  to  see  the  American  republic  remain  a 
little  group  of  distracted  states,  impoverished  in 
finance,  limited  in  territory,  a  perpetual  object 
lesson  to  subjects  against  the  mirage  called  liberty. 
Any  really  generous  treatment  of  the  United 
States  in  the  treaty  of  peace  she  opposed;  and 
France,  striving  to  satisfy  her  in  this  respect  had 
continually  to  urge  on  the  Congress  extreme  mod- 
eration in  its  territorial  demands. 

She  found  certain  of  the  state  delegations  to 
the  Congress  ready  to  cooperate.  The  division 
of  the  states  into  landed  and  landless  is  signifi- 
cant. On  the  one  hand  such  states  as  New  Jersey, 
Delaware,  Maryland  had  boundaries  long  since 
fixed  at  limits  rendering  them  diminutive  beside 
the  great  belts  of  territory  claimed  by  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut,  and  North  Carolina  under 
seventeenth  century  usea  to  sea"  charters;  far 
more  beside  the  vast  claims  of  New  York  to  the 
lands  over  which  her  vassals,  the  Iroquois, 
claimed  sway  to  the  West.  Greediest  and  most 
pertinaceous  in  her  claims,  however,  was  Virginia, 
insisting  that  the  extension  of  her  boundaries  west 
and  northwest  as  her  old  charter  bade,  would 
throw  the  greatest  part  of  the  old  Northwest  and 


62  The  Story  of  Illinois 

all  Kentucky  into  her  hands.  What  equality, 
argued  the  small  states,  could  there  be  in  a  union 
of  which  some  members  were  so  vast  and  others 
so  small?  Should  the  blood  and  treasure  of 
Maryland  and  Delaware  be  poured  out  in  the 
battles  of  the  Revolution  to  win  fortunes  for 
Virginia  speculators?  Maryland  refused  to 
ratify  the  Articles  of  Confederation  till  New 
York's  cession  to  Congress  of  her  claims  had  en- 
sured that  all  the  western  claims  would  be  pooled 
for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States  as  a  whole. 
Virginia  finally  ceded  her  claims  north  of  the 
Ohio  in  1784;  specifying  that  the  claims  of  her 
enemies  the  land  companies  should  forever  be 
barred  and  that  her  expenses  for  Clark's  con- 
quest be  reimbursed  her. 

Meanwhile  various  interests  clustered  around 
Maryland.  The  land  companies  such  as  the  Illi- 
nois and  Wabash  and  the  Vandalia  who  foresaw 
the  ruin  of  their  claims  should  Virginia  make 
good  her  hold;  the  French  agents  anxious  that 
the  United  States  should  not  insist  on  too  large 
a  territory  in  the  treaty;  all  looked  to  Maryland 
as  their  advocate.  In  1780-178 1  it  was  a  ques- 
tion whether,  losing  state  after  state  to  the  British 
in  the  South,  the  confederacy  would  not  as  Spain 
suggested  negotiate  on  the  ground  of  present 
possession. 

The  victory  of  Yorktown  changed  the  military 


The  American  Conquest  63 

situation  in  the  East;  and  the  fall  of  Lord  North's 
ministry  in  England  ensured  the  colonies  liberal 
terms;  for  the  Earl  of  Shelburne,  prime  minister 
at  the  critical  time  of  the  negotiations,  resolved 
to  secure  to  Great  Britain  the  future  friendship 
of  America  and  at  all  costs  to  detach  her  from 
dependency  on  France  and  Spain.  Possibly  the 
American  diplomatists  might  have  gained  Canada 
by  more  astute  play  of  their  hands;  but  the  ac- 
quisition of  all  the  Northwest  to  the  channel  of 
navigation  through  Lakes  Ontario,  Erie,  Huron, 
and  Superior  was  a  triumph  great  and  unfore- 
seen by  France. 

The  years  1 780-1 784,  had  seen  the  solution 
of  two  problems  regarding  the  Northwest  and 
the  Illinois;  the  title  in  it  was  to  rest  in  the 
United  States;  and  its  settlement  was  to  take 
place  under  the  auspices  of  the  United  States 
and  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States  as  a  whole. 
Whether  the  new  nation  would  have  the  strength 
to  hold  the  West  when  England  under  ministers 
less  liberal  than  Shelburne  should  repent  of  her 
generosity  in  1782;  whether  the  United  States 
could  muster  the  political  wisdom  necessary  to 
solve  the  problem  of  government  and  empire 
where  both  France  and  England  had  failed,  were 
still  open  questions. 

The  first  question  was  to  be  answered  only  in 
the  next  generation ;  but  the  United  States'  demon- 


64  The  Story  of  Illinois 


stration  of  her  capacity  to  meet  the  second  comes 
within  the  space  of  ten  years.  The  very  fact  that 
the  congress  of  the  United  States  had  a  West 
to  develop  and  needed  efficient  powers  to  do  so 
was  a  contributing  factor  to  the  framing  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  1787;  the 
need  of  an  organization  under  which  free  govern- 
ment might  develop  in  the  West  bore  fruit  in  the 
famous  Ordinance  for  the  government  of  the 
territory  northwest  of  the  River  Ohio. 

Congressional  action  on  the  problem  of  west- 
ern organization  really  begins  with  Jefferson's 
draft  of  the  Ordinance  of  1784.  In  the  western 
country  were  already  settlements;  in  the  present 
states  of  Michigan,  Indiana,  Wisconsin,  Illinois, 
Tennessee,  and  Kentucky.  Jefferson's  proposal 
was  to  block  the  whole  acquisition  of  1783  off 
into  embryo  states,  ten  of  them  in  the  Northwest 
and  Kentucky,  with  extent  determined  in  part  at 
least  by  physical  configuration.  Within  each  of 
these  states  the  inhabitants  might  form  an  almost 
autonomous  government  that  on  reaching  a  cer- 
tain population  might  be  admitted  to  the  original 
sisterhood  of  states.  Slavery,  Jefferson,  proposed 
to  prohibit  in  the  West,  North  and  South  alike 
after  1800.  Jefferson's  proposal  was  amended 
and  recommitted;  for  three  years  Congress 
brooded  over  the  ordinance.  In  1785  Monroe 
brought  back  word  that  the  prairies  were  a  hope- 


The  American  Conquest  65 

less  desert  sure  never  to  be  densely  populated; 
and  Congress  decided  the  country  north  of  the 
Ohio  should  be  the  basis  of  three  or  at  most  of 
five  states.  Congress  was  again  debating  a  draft 
ordinance  not  far  removed  in  form  from  that 
finally  adopted,  when  a  new  factor  gave  an  im- 
petus to  their  work. 

Since  the  close  of  the  Revolution  a  group  of  rev- 
olutionary soldiers,  mainly  New  Englanders,  had 
been  considering  the  possibility  of  a  settlement 
founded  in  the  wilderness,  where  in  the  eco- 
nomic race  they  might  regain  the  ground  their 
patriotism  had  lost  them  at  home.  Washington 
had  endorsed  their  plan,  but  Congress  did  noth- 
ing; and  for  a  time  they  thought  of  settling  in 
the  future  state  of  Maine.  However,  General 
Rufus  Putnam,  who  had  been  surveying  lands  in 
Maine  after  visiting  the  Ohio  country  reported 
the  latter  incomparably  better,  and  new  interest 
was  aroused.  An  Ohio  Company  was  formed  in 
New  England  among  old  soldiers  who  agreed 
to  contribute  continental  scrip  and  bounty  land 
warrants  to  the  purchase  of  a  large  tract  at  the 
Muskingum  River.  To  negotiate  the  purchase 
they  sent  several  agents  to  Congress,  notably  the 
Reverend  Manasseh  Cutler,  Congregational 
divine,  chaplain  in  the  Revolution,  scientific  bota- 
nist, physician,  financial  negotiator,  politician,  fu- 
ture congressman. 


66  The  Story  of  Illinois 

On  arriving  at  New  York  where  the  Congress 
was  sitting  Manasseh  Cutler  was  not  long  in  per- 
ceiving the  strong  points  in  his  position.  The  men 
of  his  company,  conservative,  many  of  them  sup- 
posedly favorers  of  monarchical  government  in 
the  United  States,  were  the  sort  of  men  the  grow- 
ing conservative  spirit  wished  settled  in  the  West 
to  curb  its  lawlessness.  The  news  of  the  purchase 
and  prospective  settlement  by  such  men  would 
draw  additional  purchasers.  Wealthy  New  York 
speculators  planned  to  launch  a  land  company  of 
their  own  in  connection  and  assisted  the  Ohio 
Company  in  getting  what  it  wanted. 

With  those  influences  working  for  him  Cutler 
made  the  best  possible  bargain.  Primarily  in- 
terested in  the  financial  terms  of  the  transaction, 
he  was  concerned  incidentally  in  getting  the 
Northwest  Ordinance  made  a  fit  thing  for  New 
England  men  to  live  under.  As  it  finally  passed, 
the  local  autonomy  in  Jefferson's  draft  was  modi- 
fied. In  the  first  stage  of  territorial  government, 
authority  was  to  be  exercised  by  a  governor,  secre- 
tary, and  judges  appointed  by  Congress,  selecting 
laws  from  the  codes  of  the  original  thirteen  states. 
With  a  population  of  5,000  the  territory  might 
pass  to  the  second  stage  in  which  the  lower  house 
of  the  legislature  was  elected  by  the  people,  the 
governor  chosen  by  Congress,  and  the  council 
elected  by  cooptation  of  the  Congress  and  the 


The  American  Conquest  67 

territorial  lower  house.  With  a  population  of 
60,000  within  the  bounds  designated  for  a  state, 
the  state  was  to  be  admitted  to  the  Union  on  an 
equality  with  the  older  commonwealths.  By  the 
famous  Sixth  Article  of  Compact,  slavery  was 
never  to  be  introduced. 

The  ordinance,  as  has  been  said,  represents  a 
reaction  from  the  extreme  of  autonomy  of  Jeffer- 
son's draft  of  1784.  Yet  wisdom  there  undoubt- 
edly was  in  dispensing  with  representative  institu- 
tions in  a  frontier  settlement  that  was  almost  a 
military  outpost;  here  liberty  enough  would  exist 
in  any  case  and  stronger  government  than  the  com- 
munity could  impose  on  itself  was  necessary.  The 
two  successive  degrees  of  enlargement,  to  the 
second  territorial  stage  and  to  statehood  were 
a  pledge  that  the  older  states  would  never  try  to 
reduce  the  West  to  a  permanent  colonial  depen- 
dency. Citizens  of  the  old  states  might  go  into 
the  new  country  secure  that  the  political  privileges 
they  had  enjoyed  at  home  would  follow  them  as 
fast  as  they  were  able  to  make  use  of  them.  So 
far  as  a  paper  plan  could  solve  it,  the  problem  of 
imperial  organization  in  the  West  had  been 
solved.  Whether  the  United  States  was  strong 
enough  to  hold  the  territory  and  put  the  plan  in 
operation  or  whether  her  teeming  western  popu- 
lation might  not  develop  in  allegiance  to  some 
other  government  time  only  could  tell. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  NORTHWEST   1783-1816 

BY  THE  treaty  of  1783  the  United  States 
had  acquired  a  title  to  the  Northwest,  but 
little  more.  The  Illinois  villages,  torn  by  anarchy, 
would  look  to  her  for  orderly  government;  from 
her  borders  the  headstrong  frontier  element 
would  pour  across  the  Ohio  against  the  Indians; 
but  that  was  all  the  " thirteen  fires"  —  as  the  In- 
dians named  the  new  republic  —  could  reckon  on 
in  1783.  For  thirteen  years  Great  Britain  re- 
tained the  posts  south  of  the  treaty  line  that  con- 
trolled the  Great  Lakes  and  the  northern  part  of 
the  Northwest  Territory;  for  twenty  years  more 
her  citizens  controlled  the  region  commercially 
and  encouraged  the  Indian  to  make  head  against 
the  American.  Not  until  18 15  did  the  British 
abandon  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  buffer  Indian 
state  in  the  Northwest;  not  until  18 16  did  the 
United  States  enter  on  full  possession  of  her 
mighty  empire. 

To  grasp  the  difficulties  of  the  years  1783-18 16 
one  must  understand  a  theory  and  a  policy  which 
ran  through  the  writings  of  Canadian  governors 
and  commandants  of  that  generation  with  respect 

68 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         69 

to  American  control  of  the  Northwest.  The 
theory  is  that  the  negotiators  of  1782  from  ignor- 
ance or  folly  had  committed  a  terrible  mistake. 
Running  the  international  boundary  through  the 
channel  of  navigation  of  the  Great  Lakes  and 
the  Grand  Portage  from  Lake  Superior  to  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  and  the  Far  West,  they  had 
shared  with  the  Americans  the  control  of  the 
lakes  and  of  the  routes  on  which  must  pass  the 
fur  trade  of  those  regions.  At  every  portage  on 
the  route  the  Americans  might  establish  them- 
selves. 

To  Montreal  merchants  interested  in  retaining 
a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  this  was  disaster 
enough;  but  the  military  officers  reasoned  a  step 
further.  Whoever  controlled  the  Indian  trade  of 
the  Northwest  controlled  the  Indians.  Hopelessly 
withdrawn  from  the  independence  of  his  fathers 
to  hunt  for  the  white  man,  the  Indian  must  look 
to  his  master  for  blankets,  kettles,  gun  powder 
and  rifles.  In  time  of  peace  the  white  man's 
hunter,  in  time  of  war  his  mercenary  soldier,  em- 
ployment with  one  side  or  the  other  he  must  seek. 
Supposing  him  employed  by  the  American  in  time 
of  war — and  the  British  officer  judged  the 
American's  willingness  to  employ  him  by  his  own 
—  the  long  unstable  line  of  defense  in  Canada, 
stretching  from  the  straits  of  Detroit  to  Quebec 
might  be  pierced  by  attack  from  the  Chaudiere  or 


70  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Lake  Champlain,  the  right  flank  cut  off  by  an 
advance  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  turned 
by  the  attack  of  an  army  of  western  Indians  at 
Niagara  and  Detroit.  One  campaign  with  Indian 
assistance  should  bring  the  Americans  to  the  gates 
of  Quebec.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  Indians  of 
the  Northwest  were  on  the  side  of  the  British,  the 
right  flank  at  least  was  safe.  At  all  costs,  there- 
fore, the  Indians  must  be  held  in  attachment  to 
the  British. 

The  policy  by  which  this  was  to  be  accomplished 
must  necessarily  be  a  delicate  one  that  sometimes 
trod  close  to  the  margin  of  international  comity. 
So  long  as  Great  Britain  could  avoid  surrendering 
the  western  posts  she  held  south  of  the  inter- 
national boundary  she  could  retain  fur  trade  and 
Indians  alike.  But  in  the  long  run  she  must  at- 
tempt to  maintain  an  Indian  buffer  state  that 
might  stand  permanently  between  the  American 
settlements  on  the  Ohio,  and  the  British  fur  trade 
on  the  lakes.  Not  till  1815  did  British  officials 
finally  abandon  the  project,  and  admit  that  by 
policy,  commerce  and  the  sword  the  United  States 
had  won  undisputed  control  of  the  Northwest. 

Of  course  this  policy  varied  from  time  to  time. 
Till  1790  the  British  counted  on  assistance  from 
American  sources;  the  disaffection  to  the  United 
States  in  Kentucky  and  Vermont,  then  outlying 
frontiers  of  the  Union  but  loosely  connected  with 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         71 

it  by  law  or  sentiment,  the  supposed  friendliness 
of  the  Ohio  Company  settlers  to  monarchical  in- 
stitutions. When  the  Nootka  Sound  controversy 
was  on  foot  with  Spain  in  1790,  and  it  seemed 
that  Great  Britain  would  make  war  for  control 
of  the  north  Pacific  coast,  the  British  realized 
that  the  Americans  in  the  West,  if  not  the  United 
States,  might  be  a  useful  auxiliary.  Toward  the 
end  of  the  century  they  counted  on  it  also,  in  the 
days  when  it  seemed  that  Spanish  Louisiana  would 
pass  from  the  feeble  hands  of  Spain  to  the  vigor- 
ous ones  of  France,  and  that  French  influence 
would  dominate  the  tribes  of  the  Northwest  and 
control  the  Mississippi  River  route  to  the  sea. 
For  a  decade  after  1796  the  policy  of  hostility  to 
American  interests  in  the  West  in  view  of  more  im- 
mediate danger  remained  veiled;  but  then  disputes 
over  the  rights  of  neutral  trade  once  more  re- 
vealed its  presence. 

The  United  States  in  1783  had  plunged  boldly 
into  the  solution  of  her  difficult  problem.  She 
demanded,  even  if  in  vain,  the  cession  of  the 
western  posts — Mackinac,  Detroit,  Niagara,  and 
the  rest.  She  gathered  the  chiefs  of  the  Iroquois 
or  Six  Nations  and  the  Indian  Nations  of  the 
Ohio  and  Indiana  and  in  a  series  of  treaties  cul- 
minating with  the  treaty  of  Fort  Harmar  of  1789 
secured  paper  cessions  of  all  but  the  northern 
part  of  Ohio.    But  the  treaties  and  the  encroach- 


72  The  Story  of  Illinois 

ments  of  the  white  settlers  goaded  the  Indians  to 
war,  and  in  1789  massacre  broke  out  along  the 
Ohio. 

The  Americans  launched  punitive  expeditions 
against  the  country  where  the  Indian  villages  lay 
thickest  —  the  interlocking  headwaters  of  the 
Wabash,  the  Great  Miami,  and  the  Maumee, 
what  is  now  northwestern  Ohio  and  eastern  In- 
diana; General  Harmar's  expedition  in  1790 
ended  in  something  very  like  a  defeat.  A  year 
later  General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  Governor  of  the 
Northwest  Territory,  a  feeble  old  man,  led  a  still 
larger  one;  it  was  ill-equipped,  ill-supplied,  ill- 
disciplined  and  started  too  late  in  the  year.  No- 
vember 4,  1 79 1,  its  campaign  came  to  an  end 
when  its  camp  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Wabash 
was  stormed  by  the  tribesmen  in  a  massacre 
proverbial  to  the  day  when  Custer's  Last  Fight 
replaced  it.  The  Indians  seemed  on  the  point  of 
making  good  their  demand  that  the  Americans 
give  up  the  claim  to  the  Northwest  acquired  by 
the  Treaty  of  1783,  and  retire  behind  the  Ohio. 
The  United  States,  while  raising  a  new  army, 
opened  negotiations  for  peace.1 

1  It  is  hard  to  state  precisely  the  policy  of  the  British  from 
1791  to  1795.  The  home  government  and  the  Canadian  officials 
alike  had  welcomed  the  pretexts  offered  by  the  American  fail- 
ure to  live  up  to  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty  of  1783,  that  no 
legal  barrier  should  be  opposed  to  the  payment  of  debts  owed 
to  British  merchants,  in  order  to  retain  the  western  posts  and 
the  western  fur  trade.    The  local  British  Indian  agents  and  the 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         73 

After  St.  Clair's  defeat  the  British  game  became 
indeed  a  difficult  one.  Elaborate  American  prep- 
arations against  the  Indians  equally  threatened 
Detroit;  and  as  an  outpost  to  defend  it  in  1794 
the  British  founded  a  new  fort  on  American  soil 
at  the  rapids  of  the  Maumee.  They  took  under 
their  fostering  care  the  negotiations  of  the  United 
States  with  the  Indians,  permitting  American  com- 
missioners in  1793  to  deal  with  the  Indians 
through  British  intermediaries.  The  English  of- 
ficials hoped  that  the  Indians  would  grant  a 
boundary  that  the  United  States  could  accept,  and 
thus  assure  permanently  their  desired  neutral 
ground  in  the  Old  Northwest.     They  enlisted  the 

British  fur  traders  who  wandered  unchecked  through  the  terri- 
tory undoubtedly  encouraged  the  Indian  resistance.  The  higher 
British  officials  in  Canada  were  at  least  complacent  to  it.  They 
were  convinced,  or  affected  to  be  convinced,  that  the  expeditions 
of  Harmar  and  St.  Clair  had  for  their  goal  the  seizure  of 
Detroit  and  with  it  control  of  the  upper  lake3  and  the  lion's 
share  of  their  fur  trade.  Yet  while  they  wished  Indian  resist- 
ance to  American  aggression  they  disapproved  strongly  its 
reaching  the  point  of  war.  War  injured  the  fur  trade  and 
threatened  ultimately  to  involve  Great  Britain  herself.  John 
Jay  was  in  England  endeavoring  by  a  general  treaty  to  settle 
the  various  issues,  including  those  of  the  Indians  and  the  west- 
ern posts  which  in  1793  had  seemed  to  be  hurrying  the  two  na- 
tions into  a  general  war  for  which  neither  one  was  anxious. 
Therefore  when  Lord  Dorchester,  governor  of  Canada,  early 
in  1794  told  the  Indians  that  he  would  not  be  surprised  at  war 
with  the  United  States,  and  reminded  them  that  a  new  boundary 
must  then  be  drawn  by  the  warriors,  he  much  exceeded  the 
policy  of  the  English  ministry.  Once  the  American  campaign 
of  1794  against  the  Indians  began  Canadian  officials  had  the 
hard  task  of  retaining  the  confidence  of  the  Indians  without 
assisting  them  by  any  overt  act.  That  they  failed  is  not  sur- 
prising. 


74  The  Story  of  Illinois 

influence  of  the  Six  Nations  to  this  end.  The  Six 
Nations  and  the  Lake  Indians  would  have  offered 
the  United  States  the  Muskingum;  but  the  re- 
mainder insisted  on  the  Ohio  and  the  old  line  of 
the  Treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  of  1768.  They  re- 
fused in  the  negotiation  of  1793  to  admit  the 
American  commissioners  to  council  until  they 
yielded  the  Ohio  boundary;  and  the  negotiations 
broke  off,  as  the  British  believed  the  Americans 
intended  they  should. 

While  the  Indian  negotiations  of  1793  were  in 
progress,  Major  General  Anthony  Wayne  had 
been  patiently  disciplining  a  new  army,  and  drill- 
ing it  in  open  order  formations.  In  the  spring 
of  1794,  Wayne,  a  wise,  wily,  cunning  Wayne  far 
different  from  the  dare  devil  hero  of  such  enter- 
prises as  the  storm  of  Stony  Point  where  the  last 
order  was  to  carry  the  works  by  the  bayonet 
alone,  had  begun  his  campaign.  Slowly  he  crept 
forward  into  the  Indian  country  fortifying  a  post 
at  each  step.  Indian  chiefs  who  knew  what  good 
exterior  guard  was  tried  in  vain  to  penetrate  his 
outposts  and  announced  that  the  Americans  had 
now  a  new  war  chief  who  never  slept.  On  August 
13,  1794,  he  issued  a  manifesto  to  the  tribesmen 
bidding  them  take  the  choice  of  peace  or  war,  and 
receiving  no  satisfactory  answer  passed  down  the 
Maumee  valley  devastating  their  villages  and 
corn  fields.     On  the  twentieth  of  August  advanc- 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         75 

ing  in  open  formation  through  a  windrow  of  the 
forest  he  came  on  the  Indians  prepared  for  battle. 
His  infantry,  trained  as  Colonel  Bouquet  had 
trained  them  forty  years  before,  fired  and  ad- 
vanced in  open  order  at  the  charge;  the  cavalry 
turned  the  Indian  flank  and  all  was  over. 

As  a  military  engagement  the  Battle  of  the 
Fallen  Timbers  was  a  small  affair;  the  British 
insisted  and  probably  with  truth  that  but  a  frac- 
tion of  the  Indian  strength  was  engaged  in  it;  but 
Wayne,  aided  by  fortune,  exploited  its  full 
psychological  effect  on  the  mercurial  Indian  tem- 
perament. It  took  place  but  a  little  above  the 
new  British  fort  at  the  Rapids,  and  the  beaten 
Indians,  fleeing  to  the  fort  of  their  British  father 
for  shelter,  found  the  gates  closed  against  them 
by  a  commandant  who  feared  to  give  Wayne  a 
pretext  to  begin  hostilities.  Wayne  put  to  the 
torch  the  Indian  villages  and  the  houses  of  the 
British  traders  around  the  fort,  reconnoitering  in- 
solently under  its  very  guns.  The  Indians  knew 
nothing  of  the  diplomatic  limitations  on  the  com- 
mandant and  disillusioned  and  discouraged,  saw 
themselves  deserted  by  their  British  father  in  the 
hour  of  need,  and  his  strength  flouted  by  the  com- 
mon enemy.  The  news  of  Jay's  treaty  with  its 
promised  surrender  of  the  western  posts  to  the 
Americans  only  deepened  their  sense  of  abandon- 
ment by  the  British.     Through  that  winter  of 


76  The  Story  of  Illinois 

1795  the  prestige  of  the  British  decayed  as  that 
of  Wayne,  the  American  war  chief  who  for  good 
or  evil  had  kept  his  word  with  them,  increased. 
And  when  Wayne  summoned  the  tribes  to  meet 
him  in  council  at  Greenville  in  July  of  1795  the 
chiefs  and  the  warriors  flocked  in.  This  would 
be  no  treaty  conducted  with  a  handful  in  a  corner. 
Its  results  would  be  definitive  and  permanent. 

As  delegation  after  delegation  trooped  into  the 
post  at  Greenville  they  were  greeted  by  Wayne 
with  the  assumption  of  superiority  and  acquiesced 
in  it.  When  the  moment  for  actual  negotiation 
came,  he  demanded  of  them  the  surrender  of 
everything  southeast  of  a  line  across  Northwestern 
Ohio  that  stands  as  the  basis  of  all  future  ne- 
gotiations and  Indian  cessions.  Further  he  ex- 
acted the  cession  of  small  tracts  at  every 
important  post  and  portage  in  the  West,  the  im- 
portance of  which  in  control  of  the  trade  the  In- 
dians themselves  well  understood.  Among  these 
was  the  future  site  of  Fort  Dearborn  at  Chicago 
and  tracts  at  Peoria  and  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois 
River.  The  tribes  protested,  but  protested  as 
individuals  and  were  easily  overawed  and  sil- 
enced; and  when  Wayne  at  the  final  session  called 
on  each  tribe  individually  to  say  if  it  acquiesced 
none  dared  lift  a  voice  against  the  treaty. 

The  treaty  of  Greenville  and  the  surrender  by 
Great  Britain  in   1796  of  the  western  posts  of 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         77 

which  Detroit  and  Mackinac  were  the  most  im- 
portant, end  the  first  chapter  of  the  struggle  of 
the  United  States  for  the  Northwest.  It  had  ac- 
quired an  undisputed  foothold  for  settlement  and 
military  control  of  the  whole  area.  It  had  yet  to 
learn,  however,  that  trade  did  not  follow  the  flag; 
and  for  twenty  years  more  it  seemed  to  hold  only 
the  outward  symbols  of  power  in  a  region  where 
influence  with  the  Indians  and  profitable  trade  re- 
mained with  the  British. 

For  Jay's  treaty  in  spite  of  the  surrender  of 
the  posts  had  been  a  hard  bargain.  It  had  re- 
affirmed the  right  of  British  subjects  to  navigate 
the  Mississippi  freely  even  though  it  had  been 
ascertained  since  the  Treaty  of  1783  that  the  river 
nowhere  touched  British  soil;  still  worse,  it  ac- 
corded to  British  traders  the  right  to  trade  freely 
in  American  territory;  and  the  reciprocal  provision 
for  the  benefit  of  Americans  —  the  territory  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company  being  excepted  from 
it  —  was  only  a  hollow  mockery.  These  objec- 
tions Madison  had  urged  to  Jay's  Treaty  as  suf- 
ficient ground  for  its  rejection;  but  Congress  had 
concluded  to  shoulder  the  burden. 

At  this  point  it  is  necessary  to  consider  in  detail 
the  causes  of  the  British  monopoly  of  the  North- 
west fur  trade.  Since  the  year  1769  the  trade 
formerly  enjoyed  by  the  French  south  of  the  Hud- 
son Bay  trading  region  had  passed  into  the  hands 


78  The  Story  of  Illinois 

of  Scotch  traders  and  firms  at  Montreal.  On  the 
one  hand,  they  established  connections  with  great 
London  firms  who  supplied  the  goods  for  the 
trade  and  marketed  the  furs;  on  the  other  they 
associated  with  themselves  "wintering  partners " 
in  the  pays  (Ten  haut  who  supervised  the  buying 
of  furs  from  the  Indians  in  their  winter  hunts. 
Wintering  partners,  Montreal  merchants,  and 
sometimes  London  merchants  were  continually 
forming  loose  organizations  or  pools.  Again  and 
again  these  pools  broke  down;  and  resulting  trade 
wars  were  waged  in  the  West  almost  to  the  mouth 
of  the  cannon.  A  pool  of  this  kind  existed  in 
1780  four  years  before  the  formation  of  the  fa- 
mous Northwest  Company.  From  that  company 
or  pool  there  were  secessions  in  1795,  1798,  and 
1800,  the  last  year  seeing  the  organization  of  a 
New  Northwest  Company,  to  reunite  with  the 
old  after  a  short  commercial  war.  A  Michilli- 
mackinac  Company  trading  almost  exclusively  in 
the  territory  of  the  United  States  appears  in  the 
first  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  comprising 
some  of  the  firms  already  engaged  in  the  North- 
west Company. 

The  most  natural  routes  for  the  trade  skirted 
the  international  boundary  of  1783;  its  most  con- 
venient bases  lay  in  American  territory.  The 
easiest  route  to  the  Greater  Canadian  Northwest 
ran  along  the  channel  of  the  Great  Lakes  through 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         79 

the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  to  the  Grand  Portage  on  the 
north  shore  of  Lake  Superior.  The  alternative 
route  through  British  territory  by  the  Ottawa 
River  from  Montreal  to  Lake  Huron  was  more 
expensive;  even  if  one  used  it  he  had  to  pass 
American  territory  at  the  Sault.  From  Grand 
Portage  the  continent  spread  out  before  the 
trader  to  the  shores  of  the  Arctic  and  the  Pacific; 
till  1796  it  was  the  main  depot  of  the  trade  to 
the  farther  Northwest.  After  that  year  the 
Northwest  Company  removed  farther  north  on 
the  lake  shore  to  the  Kaministique  route  and 
founded  Fort  William  on  British  territory  as  a 
new  base.  Mackinac  Island  in  American  territory 
remained  the  best  point  for  reprovisioning  the 
canoes  en  route  to  the  farther  Northwest. 

Mackinac  was  equally  important  to  the  Mon- 
treal groups  that  traded  in  the  United  States. 
In  1799  this  trade  was  estimated  at  $100,000  a 
year,  perhaps  the  major  part  of  the  whole  trade. 
A  little  of  it  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Superior  was 
engrossed  by  the  Northwest  Company.  But  most 
of  it  fell  to  the  Mackinac  groups.  Till  the  be- 
ginning of  the  nineteenth  century  this  trade  was 
still  in  the  hands  of  independent  traders  who  in 
1793  went  as  far  down  the  Mississippi  as  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois.  Even  Nashville  brought 
its  supplies  by  way  of  the  Cumberland  from 
Mackinac.     Prairie  du  Chien  was  an  important 


So  The  Story  of  Illinois 

subsidiary  to  Mackinac  where  by  1812  as  many 
as  6,000  Indians  gathered. 

Mackinac  Island  at  the  opening  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  was  almost  the  trading  center  of 
the  continent.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  from 
out  the  rivers  of  the  nearer  Northwest  came  the 
fur  trading  brigades  picking  up  the  members  left 
the  preceding  fall  for  the  trade  with  their  win- 
ter's take  of  furs.  Gaining  in  numbers  with  every 
halt  they  finally  pulled  their  heavy  Mackinac 
boats  or  canoes  to  the  Island.  Here  they  were 
met  by  the  Montreal  merchants  bringing  out  the 
Indian  goods  to  be  used  for  the  next  year's  trade; 
here  the  picturesque  boatmen  and  traders  spent 
a  year's  pay  in  a  few  weeks'  jollity;  here  the  af- 
fairs of  the  pools  were  arranged  and  profits 
divided.  From  the  Island  in  the  fall  the  mer- 
chants set  out  for  Montreal  with  the  previous 
year's  haul  of  furs;  and  the  fur  trading  brigades 
loaded  with  Indian  goods  headed  out  in  every 
direction;  dropping  individual  traders  with  goods 
at  likely  places  en  route  to  trade  and  hibernate 
till  the  brigade  picked  them  up  in  the  spring.  Be- 
fore 1796  it  was  said  the  trade  at  Mackinac  called 
in  800  persons. 

"  Its  Geographical  position,"  wrote  Sir  George 
Prevost  to  Lord  Bathurst  in  18 14,  uis  admirable, 
its  influence  extends,  and  is  felt  amongst  the  In- 
dian  Tribes    at   New   Orleans    and    the    Pacific 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         81 

Ocean,  vast  Tracts  of  Country  look  to  it  for  pro- 
tection and  supplies;  and  it  gives  security  to  the 
great  Trading  Establishments  of  the  North  West 
and  Hudson's  Bay  Companies;  by  supporting,  the 
Indians  on  the  Mississippi;  the  only  barrier  which 
interposes  between  them  and  the  Enemy,  and 
which  if  once  forced  (an  event  that  lately 
appeared  probable)  their  progress  into  the  heart 
of  these  companies  Settlements  by  the  Red  River 
is  practicable,  &  would  enable  them  to  execute 
their  long  formed  project  of  monopolizing  the 
whole  Fur  Trade  into  their  own  hands  —  from 
these  observations  Your  Lordship  will  be  en- 
abled to  judge  how  necessary  the  possession  of 
this  valuable  post,  situated  on  the  outskirts  of 
these  extensive  Provinces  is  daily  becoming  to 
their  future  security  and  protection."  1 

The  fur  trade  of  the  Continent  had  long  since 
become  in  men's  imaginations  a  world  trade. 
Soon  after  the  Revolution  the  Massachusetts 
sea  captains  debarred  from  their  old  trade  with 
the  British  West  Indies  had  found  their  way 
around  the  Horn  and  carried  furs  from  the 
Pacific  Coast  to  China  to  be  traded  for  silks, 
china,  and  teas  for  the  consumption  of  the  settle- 
ments on  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  One  of  the 
pioneers,  Captain  Gray  of  Salem,  in  1792  had 
discovered  the  river  he  named  for  his  ship,  Co- 
lumbia, giving  the  United  States  prior  title  to  its 
valley.      George    Mackenzie    of   the    Northwest 

1  Michigan  Pioneer  and  Historical  Collections,  vol.  25,  p.  585. 


82  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Company,  exploring  to  the  Arctic  in  1789  and  to 
the  Pacific  overland  in  1793  was  moved  by  the 
desire  of  forestalling  the  Americans  on  the  Pa- 
cific Coast.  In  1802  he  projected  a  trading  or- 
ganization that  should  span  the  continent  from 
Atlantic  to  Pacific  and  wrest  the  China  trade  in 
furs  from  the  Americans.  But  the  East  India 
Company  monopoly  barred  the  way  to  a  British 
subject;  and  his  scheme  was  taken  up  by  an 
American. 

American  statesmen  recognized  only  too  well 
the  fact  that  the  little  garrison  at  Mackinac  up- 
held the  American  flag  over  a  post  at  which  Brit- 
ish capital  monopolized  a  great  American  trade. 
To  remedy  it  by  force  was  impossible  and  they 
sought  to  alleviate  it  by  economic  counter  organ- 
ization or  diplomatic  finesse.  In  1796  they  had 
begun  a  system  of  government  houses  for  the  In- 
dian trade;  and  early  in  the  nineteenth  century 
they  began  to  establish  these  in  the  Northwest,  at 
Detroit  and  Fort  Wayne  before  1803,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri  and  at  Fort  Dearborn,  on 
the  present  site  of  Chicago  in  1805;  at  Sandusky 
in  1806,  at  Mackinac  and  Fort  Madison  on  the 
Mississippi  in  1808. 

The  fur  trading  houses  were  latterly  run  at 
a  loss,  and  they  served  to  degrade  the  United 
States  in  the  minds  of  the  Indians  to  the  position 
of  a  trader;  they  therefore  gave  no  return  in 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         83 

counteracting  the  influence  over  the  Indians  of 
British  agents. 

Diplomatic  finesse  and  annoyances  put  in  the 
way  of  the  British  trader  proved  more  effica- 
cious. In  1798  British  goods  were  still  being 
brought  into  the  United  States  for  Indian  trade 
without  paying  customs  duties.  But  in  1802  the 
New  Northwest  Company  feared  that  United 
States  customs  officials  had  seized  at  the  Sault 
Indian  goods  that  had  not  been  entered  at  Mack- 
inac. In  1808  goods  of  the  Michillimackinac 
Company  had  been  seized  while  passing  Niagara 
on  the  pretext  that  the  embargo  forbade  all  im- 
ports to  the  United  States.  And  even  if  eventu- 
ally the  United  States  was  compelled  by  diplo- 
matic means  to  recede  from  a  seizure  of  this  sort 
the  Indians  had  been  left  without  goods  and  a 
full  year's  trade  had  been  lost.  Thus  the  seizure 
of  1808  had  resulted  in  the  dissolution  of  the 
Michillimackinac  Company  in  1810.  When  the 
United  States  acquired  Louisiana,  on  the  pretext 
that  it  was  territory  not  covered  by  the  Treaty  of 
Paris  and  Jay's  Treaty,  all  British  traders  were 
excluded  from  a  region  where  formerly  the  Span- 
iards had  allowed  them  to  roam  at  will.  By  eco- 
nomic artifice  and  diplomatic  chicane  American 
diplomats  worked  unceasingly  to  sap  the  British 
monopoly. 

The  British  merchants  themselves  bore  testi- 


8  4  The  Story  of  Illinois 


mony  to  the  efficiency  of  the  American  policy.    In 
1808  they  assured  their  government 

That  the  Indian  trade  within  the  American 
Limits  must  speedily  be  abandoned  by  British 
subjects,  if  not  protected  against  interruptions  of 
free  navigation  of  the  Lakes,  fiscal  extortions  and 
various  other  vexations :  that  if  once  abandoned, 
it  can  never  be  regained  and  with  its  abandonment, 
will  finish  British  influence  with  the  Indian 
Nations  residing  within  [without?]  the  limits  of 
Canada:  that  British  Traders  have  materially 
aided  in  preserving  that  influence  hitherto,  the 
conviction  of  which  is  the  strong  motive  with  the 
American  Government  for  wishing,  by  every 
means  they  can  devise,  to  exclude  such  traders. 

If  therefore,  the  minds  of  Mis  Majesty's 
Ministers  shall  be  made  up  to  the  loss  of  that 
portion  of  Indian  Trade  carried  on  within  the 
American  territory  (which  indeed  is  nearly  the 
whole,  except  the  Northwest)  and  to  the  extinc- 
tion of  influence  amongst  the  Indian  Tribes 
.*  the  American  government  might  be 
allowed  to  pursue  its  policy  unchecked. 

In  the  repeated  negotiations  of  1805-18 12 
these  points  came  up  again  and  again.  In  1809 
British  merchants  urged  on  their  government  the 
creation  of  a  neutral  zone  in  the  West  in  which  no 
duties  would  be  levied  by  either  side.  The  bound- 
ary they  suggested  was  the  Missouri  River  west 


1  Michigan  Pioneer  and  Historical  Collections,  vol.  25,  p.  256. 
Memorial  of  Oct.  20.  1808. 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         85 

of  the  Mississippi,  the  Illinois  River  and  Lake 
Michigan  east  of  it.  The  United  States  must  on 
no  account  be  allowed  a  foothold  on  the  Columbia 
River  and  the  Pacific.  On  the  other  hand  Amer- 
ican secretaries  of  state  were  instructing  negoti- 
ators never  to  surrender  the  right  to  British  trad- 
ers to  enter  the  Louisiana  purchase. 

At  last  American  capital  was  working  into  the 
interior  fur  trade  on  a  sufficient  scale  to  rival  the 
British.  In  1807  Manuel  Lisa  of  St.  Louis  in 
association  with  Pierre  Menard  and  William 
Morrison  of  the  Illinois  country  despatched  an 
expedition  up  the  Missouri  to  trade.  The  next 
year  saw  the  incorporation  by  the  three  men  of 
the  Missouri  St.  Louis  Fur  Company.  It  saw 
also  the  incorporation  of  John  Jacob  Astor's 
American  Fur  Company.  For  ten  years  he  had 
been  known  to  the  British.  "A  German  person 
Jacob  Oster,"  the  Canadian  government  had  been 
informed  in  a  letter  from  New  York  of  1797, 
"  who  frequently  visits  Canada,  who  deals  largely 
in  Furs,  and  is  at  present  ('tis  said)  in  that  coun- 
try, has  imported  in  the  last  ship  from  London 
6,000  stand  of  arms  and  100  casks  of  gunpowder 
(the  latter  he  has  advertised  for  sale)."  1  Astor 
was  not  merely  importing  arms  which  the  Cana- 
dian government  suspected  were  to  be  used  in  a 
French  uprising.    By  buying  furs  in  Montreal  for 

1  Canadian  Archives,  1891,  p.  155. 


86  The  Story  of  Illinois 

export,  he  learned  the  fur  trade.  His  American 
Fur  Company  was  established  in  1808  In  partner- 
ship with  Canadian  traders  and  planned  on  a 
magnificent  scale.  His  bases  for  trade  were  to 
be  Mackinac  and  Astoria  on  the  Columbia;  the 
two  were  to  be  connected  by  an  overland  route, 
and  both  with  New  York,  by  canoe  through  the 
Great  Lakes,  and  by  ship  through  the  two  oceans. 

While  all  these  forces  were  at  work  sapping 
the  British  control  of  the  trade,  the  United  States 
was  engaged  in  an  Indian  policy  designed  to  get 
rid  as  fast  as  possible  of  the  tribes  of  the  North- 
west. President  Jefferson  planned  to  reduce  their 
possessions  and  by  teaching  them  the  arts  of  agri- 
culture to  change  them  from  hunters  to  farmers ; 
at  the  same  time  he  and  his  governor  of  Indiana 
Territory,  William  Henry  Harrison,  sought  ces- 
sion after  cession.  As  the  Indian  tribes,  corroded 
like  metal  on  the  touch  of  the  acid  of  the  white 
man's  fire  water,  lost  numbers,  self  reliance  and 
force,  treaties  were  extracted  from  the  wrecks  of 
the  tribes.  By  1809  Harrison  had  obtained 
treaties  surrendering  practically  all  Ohio,  eastern 
Michigan,  southern  Indiana,  and  most  of  western 
and  southern  Illinois. 

In  protest  against  this  policy  there  rose  per- 
haps the  ablest  of  all  the  Indian  statesmen  war- 
riors who  have  sought  to  withstand  the  march 
of  the  white  man  —  Tecumseh.     Working  with 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         87 

the  spiritual  influence  of  his  brother,  the  Shawnee 
Prophet,  he  drew  the  Indians  away  from  their 
tribal  chiefs  and  villages  into  communities  from 
which  the  white  man,  his  goods  and  fire  water 
were  barred.  As  the  Northwest  belonged  to  the 
Indians  in  common  —  so  he  taught  his  converts  — 
there  must  be  no  more  sales  or  cessions  save  by 
common  consent.  Tecumseh,  at  first  so  weak  that 
a  tomahawk  blow  inspired  by  a  rival  chieftain 
might  have  ended  him  and  his  movement  together, 
by  181 1  had  become  a  menace  to  American  au- 
thority; while  he  was  absent  from  his  villages  in 
the  upper  Wabash  country  engaged  in  cementing 
a  still  wider  league  against  the  Americans,  there 
came  Harrison's  expedition  against  him  of  No- 
vember, 181 1,  and  the  barren  victory  of  Tippe- 
canoe which  hardly  scotched  the  influence  of 
Tecumseh  and  the  Prophet. 

In  181 1  the  diplomacy  of  Madison  appeared 
to  have  reached  an  impasse;  and  the  belief  that 
British  aid  to  the  Indians  had  rendered  the  Tip- 
pecanoe campaign  a  necessity  swept  the  West  with 
the  war  fever.  Since  1807  the  diplomatic  difficul- 
ties of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  over 
neutral  trade  had  grown  more  and  more  acute; 
and  the  British  government,  again  compelled  to 
face  the  possibility  of  war  on  the  Canadian  fron- 
tier, had  newly  enlarged  its  Indian  department. 
The   frontiersmen  believed   British   agents  were 


88  The  Story  of  Illinois 

supplying  Tecumseh  and  urging  him  on.  It  was 
the  hope  of  the  conquest  of  Canada  in  a  single 
campaign  and  the  ending  of  the  British  control 
for  all  time  that  made  such  typical  westerners  as 
Henry  Clay  of  Kentucky  demand  war.  British 
officials  on  their  side  hoped  to  extort  from  the 
United  States  by  the  treaty  that  the  Indians 

should  retain  possession  of  the  lands  they  now 
occupy  and  thereby  form  as  long  as  we  remain  in 
friendship  with  them  a  formidable  barrier  to  any 
future  attempts  of  America  against  His  Majesty's 
possessions  in  that  neighborhood.1 

Both  sides  looked  with  confidence  to  the  War  of 
1 8 12  to  settle  in  their  favor  the  control  of  the 
Northwest. 

In  calculating  the  advantages  of  the  American 
position  on  the  Great  Lakes,  the  Canadian  mili- 
tary authorities  had  not  reckoned  with  the  imbe- 
cility of  their  first  military  opponents.  The  blame 
for  the  disgraces  of  the  War  of  1812  has  usually 
been  fastened  on  the  militia  and  volunteer  system, 
but  as  one  studies  the  army  of  the  United  States 
under  the  regime  of  General  James  Wilkinson 
from  1796  to  1 812,  inefficiently  managed,  honey- 
combed with  intrigue  and  corruption,  one  won- 
ders if  a  part  of  the  blame  should  not  be  allotted 
to  it;  and  if  a  volunteer  militia  is  not  as  good  or 


iPrevost   to   Bathurst,   Oct.   5,    1812,  Michigan   Pioneer   and 
Historical  Collections,  vol.  25,  p.  359. 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         89 

as  bad  as  the  regular  army  set  to  discipline  it  can 
make  it 

The  first  campaign  in  the  Northwest  beyond  all 
expectations  gave  the  British  control  of  the  upper 
lakes.  Madison  had  not  reenforced  Mackinac 
before  navigation  closed;  immediately  on  the  out- 
break of  war  it  was  attacked  by  a  force  of  British 
and  Indians  from  St.  Joseph  and  the  commander 
induced  to  surrender  to  avoid  an  Indian  mas- 
sacre. With  Mackinac  all  the  Indians  of  the 
Northwest  fell  under  British  control;  and  again 
at  Detroit,  August  16,  General  Hull  was  induced 
to  surrender  by  the  representations  of  British  of- 
ficers that  they  could  not  hold  their  Indian  allies 
from  massacre  in  case  of  victory.  The  day  be- 
fore the  American  garrison  of  Fort  Dearborn  at 
Chicago  retreating  from  the  Fort  were  massacred 
two  miles  away  from  it. 

The  British  control  of  the  West  depended  on 
the  naval  control  of  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario.  It 
was  almost  impossible  for  them  to  transport  sup- 
plies overland  to  their  western  garrisons;  and  the 
women  and  children  as  well  as  the  warriors  of 
their  savage  allies  must  be  fed,  clothed,  and  sup- 
plied with  presents.  As  the  Indian  knew  no 
mean  between  gorging  and  starvation,  his  appe- 
tite played  havoc  with  ration  tables.  The  neces- 
sity of  keeping  open  communications  on  Lake 
Erie  in  18 13  compelled  Barclay,  the  British  com- 


90  The  Story  of  Illinois 

mander,  to  offer  battle  to  Perry's  fleet;  and 
Perry's  victory,  brilliant  and  far  reaching  in  re- 
sults, compelled  the  British  to  abandon  Detroit 
and  enabled  General  Harrison  to  pursue  their 
army  into  Canada  and  defeat  it  at  the  Thames. 

Had  the  Americans  used  their  advantage  with 
the  proper  efficiency  they  should  have  gained 
permanent  control  of  the  upper  lakes;  but  in  1814 
the  garrison  at  Mackinac  beat  off  an  American 
attack  and  later  actually  succeeded  in  capturing 
on  Lake  Huron  the  schooners  it  was  made  in. 
In  June,  18 13,  General  William  Clark  had  oc- 
cupied Prairie  du  Chien;  and  a  force  mainly  of 
Canadians  was  sent  to  recapture  and  hold  it  under 
an  able  young  officer,  Lieutenant  Bulger.  They 
not  only  kept  the  Indians  of  the  region  attached 
to  the  British  cause,  but  defeated  two  American 
expeditions  sent  up  to  retake  the  post;  the  second 
under  Major  Zachary  Taylor.  When  the  Oper- 
ations of  18 14  closed  both  sides  were  making 
great  efforts  to  secure  the  naval  control  of  the 
lower  lakes  for  the  next  year.1 

1  The  territory  of  Illinois,  which  then  included  Wisconsin, 
was  an  important  field  of  military  operations ;  within  the  pres- 
ent state  little  occurred.  Governor  Ninian  Edwards  of  Illinois 
territory  waged  a  petty  war  of  frontier  forts  and  of  raids  on 
Indian  towns  within  his  territory.  In  1813  Illinois  and  Missouri 
were  placed  under  command  of  General  Benjamin  Howard  of 
Missouri,  much  to  Edwards'  disgust,  who  aspired  to  rival  as 
a  soldier  his  neighbor  Governor  Harrison  of  Indiana.  Under 
Howard's  orders  ranger  companies  were  raised  on  the  frontier 
and  Fort  Clark  was  established  at  Peoria. 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         91 y 

In  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  American  diplomacy 
accomplished  what  American  arms  had  been  un- 
able to  effect.  The  British  matched  second  rate 
diplomats  against  the  ablest  that  America  could 
produce;  as  a  result  they  were  defeated  on  their 
claim  for  a  buffer  Indian  state  in  the  Northwest, 
and  the  treaty  did  not  repeat  the  clause  of  Jay's 
Treaty  giving  British  subjects  freedom  of  trade. 
It  provided  simply  for  the  surrender  of  all  con- 
quests on  both  sides. 

At  resurrendering  Mackinac  with  its  control  of 
the  trade  to  the  Americans  Lieutenant  Colonel 
McDonell,  the  British  commandant  at  the  post, 
and  the  fur  trading  companies  alike  protested 
bitterly.  They  enlarged  on  its  importance  to  the 
trade,  on  the  necessity  of  keeping  it  at  all  costs 
or  at  least  keeping  the  Americans  out  of  it;  but 
all  to  no  purpose.  Secretary  of  State  James 
Monroe  knew  its  value  as  well  as  anyone  and 
demanded  its  immediate  return,  and  it  was  sur- 
rendered to  the  Americans  July  18,  18 15. 

There  followed  one  of  those  brief  periods 
when  the  American  government  seems  to  act  with 
superhuman  intelligence  and  energy  to  repair  long 
years  of  shortcoming.  The  Americans  in  the  West 
played  with  rare  skill  upon  the  fact  that  the  In- 
dians of  the  West  felt  themselves  once  more 
abandoned  by  the  British.  They  took  advantage 
of  the  British  preoccupation  with  the  Waterloo 


92  The  Story  of  Illinois 

campaign  of  1815.  Acting  swiftly  in  the  years 
of  18 15  and  1 8 16  they  prepared  for  the  resto- 
ration of  the  old  posts  at  Fort  Dearborn,  and  the 
occupation  of  Prairie  du  Chien  and  Green  Bay 
to  cut  off  all  possible  routes  of  approach  to  Can- 
ada from  the  Indians  west  of  Lake  Michigan. 
British  officials  protested  that  the  building  of  new 
posts  in  the  Indian  country  was  a  violation  of  the 
treaty,  but  to  no  purpose.  In  the  course  of  18 16 
there  were  posts  at  Chicago,  Prairie  du  Chien, 
Green  Bay,  Warsaw  on  the  Mississippi  River, 
Rock  Island,  and  Peoria.  In  18 16  an  act  of 
Congress  barred  all  aliens  from  the  trade  who 
did  not  obtain  permits  from  American  Indian 
agents.  The  British  trader  was  finally  excluded 
from  the  region.  Astor's  American  Fur  Com- 
pany took  over  the  remaining  posts  of  the  North- 
west Company.  The  future  of  the  trade  was  in 
American  hands. 

For  the  third  time  since  1782  the  Indian  had 
a  right  to  feel  himself  abandoned  by  his  British 
allies;  and  the  Americans  acquired  an  ascendency 
they  never  again  lost.  New  cession  treaties  were 
extorted;  from  the  Sac  and  Foxes  one  confirming 
the  St.  Louis  cession  of  1804.  With  hard  words 
to  the  Indians  the  American  officers  boasted  that 
they  had  "thrown  their  British  father  on  his 
back"  and  that  his  Indian  children  were  left  at 
the  mercy  of  his  enemies. 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         93 

"  My  father,"  complained  an  Indian  chief  at 
Mackinac  to  the  British,  "  I  shall  in  the  first  place 
tell  you  how  the  Chiefs  I  sent  to  St.  Louis  were 
treated  by  the  Big  Knifes  Chief  (Governor 
Clarke)  on  their  arrival  there  being  three  Chiefs 
and  several  soldiers,  they  were  seated  in  the  cir- 
cle with  the  other  Indians,  the  American  Chief 
in  going  around  to  shake  hands,  said  that  the  men 
I  had  sent  were  unfit  to  talk  with  him,  and  that 
he  must  absolutely  see  me  or  my  Head  War  Chief 
The  Black  Hawk,  he  added  to  my  Brother,  you 
must  immediately  send  off  messengers  to  tell 
Lemoite  and  the  Black  Hawk  to  repair  to  this 
place  in  the  course  of  thirty  days;  //  they  do  not, 
I  will  ascend  the  Mississippi  and  find  them;  those 
your  nation  who  remain  here  will  be  guarded  by 
soldiers,  till  your  Head  Chiefs  obey  my  summons. 
If  they  are  not  here  in  thirty  days  their  Blood 
will  be  spilt  for  their  disobedience. 

"Then  addressing  the  Kickapoos,  You  have  a 
choice,  say  you  wish  for  war  and  we  are  ready, 
say  you  wish  for  Peace,  and  it  shall  be  so  —  Ye 
Sauks,  Kickapoos,  Renards,  Pottawattomies  you 
see  what  you  must  do,  you  must  never  expect  to 
see  your  English  Father  again,  you  have  rendered 
yourselves  miserable  by  following  his  advice  by 
going  to  war  with  us.  He  did  not  this  year  ask 
you  to  embark  \n  his  Boats,  to  traverse  the  Lakes 
—  We  are  going  to  build  Forts  on  the  Mississippi, 
we  have  driven  your  English  Father  from  thence 
and  from  Michillimackinac,  you  are  miserable, 
you  will  not  have  an  English  Trader  amongst 
you;  how  can  they  come? 

"All  this  time  and  while  the  council  lasted  guns 


94  The  Story  of  Illinois 


were  pointed  at  my  chiefs  (continued  LeMoite) 
and  as  often  as  the  American  chief  the  Red  Head 
(meaning  Governor  Clarke)  spoke  harsh  to 
them,  several  other  tribes  who  were  present  would 
yell  with  joy,  which  makes  me  much  ashamed  as 
they  were  principally  our  Enemies  from  the 
Misouri * 

In  his  despatches  of  1815  and  18 16  Lieutenant 
Colonel  McDonell  interpreted  the  American 
policy.  He  believed  the  Americans  were  trying 
to  provoke  the  Indians  to  hostilities  that  would 
put  them  outside  the  treaty;  for  unsupplied  with 
powder  they  were  at  the  mercy  of  their  enemies. 

"I  have  taken  every  precaution,"  he  wrote,  "to* 
make  known  the  news  of  Peace,  &  to  put  a  stop  to 
that  predatory  mode  of  warfare,  which  they  are 
continually  waging  against  the  Americans.  To 
effect  this  entirely  among  so  many  tribes,  having 
such  cause  to  hate  that  people,  need  not  be  ex- 
pected. The  Gov't  of  the  United  States  there- 
fore, will  soon  have  a  fair  pretext  to  glut  their 
vengeance  against  them  &  gradually  to  root  them 
out.  They  will  probably  stop  all  Powder  from 
going  to  the  Mississippi  (when  they  get  this 
place)  without  which,  these  nations  must  perish 
in  the  winter;  the  slow  but  sure  poison  of  their 
whisky  stills,  will  effect  the  rest,  and  in  fifty  years 
time,  there  perhaps  will  not  be  an  Indian  left  be- 
tween this  and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  to  plague 
either  party."  2 

1  Michigan    Pioneer   and   Historical    Collections,   vol.    16,    p. 
194  flf. 

2  Ibid.,  p.   104.     McDonell  to  Foster,  May  15,   1815. 


The  Struggle  for  the  Northwest         95 

In  these  words  Lieutenant  Colonel  McDonell 
wrote  the  epitaph  of  the  Indians  of  the  North- 
west. The  British  still  tried  to  hold  out  a  hand 
to  their  old  allies;  General  Lewis  Cass  had  to 
order  tribesmen  in  Michigan  to  pull  down  British 
flags  from  their  lodges;  Black  Hawk  and  his 
band  continued  to  make  pilgrimages  to  Maiden 
for  British  presents  and  advice  till  their  overthrow 
in  1832;  but  these  things  could  not  even  retard 
the  displacement  of  the  Indian  by  the  white.  The 
possession  of  the  Northwest  Territory  and  with 
it  of  the  Illinois  had  passed  to  the  hands  that  had 
held  the  title;  its  exploitation  was  destined  to  be 
under  American  institutions. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

FROM  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787 
Illinois  had  a  definite  political  relation  to 
the  United  States  in  theory;  and  with  the  arrival 
of  Governor  St.  Clair  of  the  Northwest  Territory 
at  Kaskaskia  March  5,  1790,  the  theory  became 
translated  into  fact;  but  for  many  years  to  come 
the  Illinois  country  was  on  the  edge  of  the  gov- 
ernment thus  created.  Till  1800  it  was  a  part  of 
the  Northwest  Territory;  from  1800  to  1809  it 
was  a  part  of  Indiana  Territory;  and  only  with 
the  creation  of  Illinois  Territory  in  1809  and 
with  subsequent  statehood  in  1818  did  it  recover 
a  measurable  control  of  its  destinies.  Its  politics 
throughout  the  period  seem  petty  factional  and 
personal  quarrels;  and  the  only  distinguishable 
motif  that  runs  throughout  is  the  slavery  issue. 

Slavery  gives  point  to  most  of  the  politics  of 
the  territory  and  state  from  1787  to  1824.  After 
1787  the  French  inhabitants,  alarmed  by  the  re- 
ports that  the  Ordinance  had  abolished  slavery, 
were  moving  with  their  slaves  across  the  river  to 
Spanish  territory,  until  they  were  reassured  by  St. 
Clair's  decision  that  the  antislavery  clause  of  the 

96 


The  Day  of  Small  Things  97 

Ordinance  did  not  apply  to  slaves  already  held  in 
the  territory.  It  was  the  desire  to  overturn  the 
Ordinance  and  introduce  new  slaves  that  led  in 
1809  to  the  division  of  Indiana  Territory  and  the 
setting  off  of  Illinois.  The  first  constitution  of 
Illinois,  protecting  the  holding  of  indentured  serv- 
ants marks  a  compromise,  a  breathing  space  in 
the  struggle  between  slavery  and  freedom.  Not 
till  1824  did  the  six  years  of  contest  out  of  which 
had  emerged  the  statehood  of  Illinois  and  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  bring  forth  the  definitive 
decision  that  thenceforth  Illinois  was  to  be  free. 
What  little  we  know  of  Illinois  from  1789  to 
1800  is  recorded  in  the  history  of  government  of 
the  Northwest  Territory.  April  27,  1790,  St. 
Clair  set  off  the  county  of  St.  Clair  with  bound- 
aries including  all  Illinois  south  of  the  Illinois 
River  and  west  of  a  line  drawn  from  the  mouth 
of  Mackinaw  River  to  Fort  Massiac  on  the  Ohio. 
Official  records  tell  us  that  one  of  the  judges  of 
the  Northwest  Territory,  George  Turner,  took 
part  in  the  old  controversy  between  Kaskaskia 
and  Cahokia,  ordering  the  records  of  the  local 
court  to  be  kept  at  Kaskaskia;  to  settle  the  dif- 
ficulty in  1795  the  county  of  Randolph  was  cre- 
ated with  Kaskaskia  for  its  county  seat.  Till 
1798  the  Governor  and  the  three  federal  judges 
legislated  for  the  Northwest  Territory,  sup- 
posedly selecting  laws  from  the  codes  of  the  older 


9 8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

states.  When  the  territory  passed  to  the  second 
state  of  territorial  government  and  had  a  legis- 
lature with  an  elected  lower  house,  St.  Clair 
county  sent  the  senior  Shadrach  Bond  and  Ran- 
dolph county  John  Edgar  to  sit  among  the  twenty- 
three  representatives.  The  laws  passed  by  this 
legislature  in  1 799-1 800  reenacted  by  territorial 
and  state  legislatures  in  Indiana  and  Illinois 
formed  the  basis  of  the  Illinois  code  for  thirty 
years  to  come;  but  one  wonders  how  far  some  of 
them  were  ever  enforced.  Laws  for  the  settle- 
ment of  the  poor  which  prohibited  their  free 
movement;  laws  that  unmarried  insolvent  debtors 
must  work  out  their  debts  in  seven  years'  servitude 
for  their  creditors,  match  strangely  with  a  fron- 
tier community  on  the  edge  of  the  wilderness. 

It  must  not  however  be  forgotten  that  the  gov- 
ernment over  the  Illinois  in  this  period  was  more 
aristocratic  than  it  ever  has  been  since.  The  of- 
ficials sent  out  by  Congress  to  govern  successively 
the  Northwest,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  Territories 
were  accorded  the  position  and  consideration  of 
gentlemen.  The  men  who  led  the  opposition  to 
them  claimed  likewise  to  be  gentlemen.  And  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  population  of  the  territory 
willingly  conceded  gentlemen  the  right  of  political 
leadership.  Under  the  Northwest  Ordinance  the 
suffrage  was  restricted  to  the  small  group  of  free- 
holders.   While  it  was  subsequently  extended,  not 


The  Day  of  Small  Things  99 

until  the  Jacksonian  revolution  in  Illinois  was  the 
control  of  the  aristocrats  of  the  territorial  period 
finally  discarded. 

Of  the  actual  life  of  the  Illinois  country  when 
it  was  a  part  of  the  Northwest  Territory  we  know 
little  or  nothing.  The  handful  of  French  inhabi- 
tants was  being  supplemented  by  a  handful  of 
American  frontiersmen.  They  lived  a  rude  life 
in  picketed  "  stations  " ;  some  of  them  forgot  all 
religious  training,  while  others  welcomed  the  first 
volunteer  Methodist  and  Baptist  preachers  who 
came  in.  As  early  as  1787  the  Baptist  James 
Smith  preached  in  the  Illinois.  The  first  Baptist 
church  was  founded  at  New  Design  in  1796. 
The  first  Methodist  preacher,  Reverend  Joseph 
Lillard,  appeared  in  1793.  In  1803  Benjamin 
Young  was  assigned  to  ride  the  circuit  in  the  Illi- 
nois. Roman  Catholic  priests  only  occasionally 
visited  the  land  that  had  witnessed  the  labors  of 
Marquette,  Allouez  and  Meurin.  By  1800  there 
were  perhaps  2,500  souls  almost  evenly  divided 
between  French  and  Americans  within  the  present 
state.  In  1806  there  were  4,300  in  Illinois  and 
the  present  Wisconsin.  In  18 12  there  were 
12,282. 

Increase  was  doubtless  retarded  by  the  slow 
evolution  of  the  government's  machinery  for  dis- 
posing of  the  public  lands.  The  Act  of  1796, 
providing  for  sales  at  two  dollars  an  acre  on  a 


ioo  The  Story  of  Illinois 

year's  credit  in  tracts  not  less  than  640  acres, 
placed  the  land  beyond  the  reach  of  the  average 
frontier  farmer.  In  1800  William  Henry  Har- 
rison, as  delegate  to  Congress  from  the  North- 
west Territory,  had  secured  a  more  liberal  meas- 
ure which  permitted  sales  in  320  acre  tracts  with 
a  credit  extending  over  four  years.  In  1804 
lands  in  Indiana  Territory,  of  which  Illinois  was 
a  part,  were  sold  in  160  acre  tracts. 

This  legislation  in  practice  did  not  help  the 
dwellers  in  the  future  state  of  Illinois  because  be- 
fore the  federal  government  could  begin  surveys 
and  sales  of  public  land  it  had  to  determine  what 
claims  to  land  under  ancient  French  grants  and 
under  its  own  promises  of  donations  were  actually 
binding  on  it.  In  1788  Congress  had  granted 
400  acres  to  each  French  head  of  a  family  resi- 
dent in  1783;  in  1791  it  had  extended  the  grant 
to  all  resident  heads  of  families  in  1783  and 
added  a  grant  of  100  acres  to  each  militiaman 
not  benefited  by  other  grants ;  further,  it  had  con- 
firmed all  holdings,  no  matter  how  shaky  in  title, 
if  they  had  been  improved  in  good  faith.  In  con- 
firming titles  by  grants  and  donation  rights  Gov- 
ernor St.  Clair  had  been  lavish  and  careless; 
Governor  Harrison  of  Indiana  Territory  for  a 
time  was  as  bad.  The  greater  part  of  the  French 
inhabitants  had  long  since  despaired  of  realizing 
on  Congress  promises  and  had  sold  their  rights 


The  Day  of  Small  Things  101 

for  a  song  to  aggressive  American  speculators 
like  John  Edgar  and  the  Morrisons.  Many 
claims  put  forward  by  those  and  other  men 
seemed  to  require  examination. 

The  investigation  of  a  commission  into  the 
mass  of  titles,  confirmed  and  unconfirmed,  pro- 
duced startling  results.  Not  only  had  the  specu- 
lators bought  up  numerous  French  claims  good, 
bad,  and  indifferent;  they  had  actually  manufac- 
tured false  headright  and  improvement  claims, 
basing  them  on  affidavits  sworn  to  wholesale  by 
bibulous  Frenchmen  under  the  influence  of 
brandy,  and  had  transferred  the  claims  to  them- 
selves by  fraudulent  conveyances.  So  complicated 
was  the  problem,  and  so  bitter  the  opposition  to 
investigation  that  it  was  not  until  1809  that  the 
commission  reported  and  not  till  18 10  that  the 
acceptance  of  the  report  by  Congress  cleared  the 
way  for  the  survey  of  townships  and  the  sale  of 
quarter  sections  at  the  land  offices  of  Shawnee- 
town  and  Kaskaskia. 

The  investigations  into  land  frauds  probably 
had  their  influence  on  the  development  of  political 
parties  in  the  territory.  The  period,  whether 
blessed  or  not,  in  which  Illinois  had  no  history, 
had  passed.  Barely  had  William  Henry  Har- 
rison, now  governor  of  Indiana  Territory,  ar- 
rived at  Vincennes  on  January  10,  1801,  than  the 
contest    between     Harrison     and    anti-Harrison 


102  The  Story  of  Illinois 

parties  opened.  In  the  Illinois  country,  Edgar 
and  the  Morrisons,  the  speculating  interests, 
ranged  themselves  against  the  governor.  Among 
the  governor's  friends  were  the  Shadrach  Bonds, 
uncle  and  nephew,  Dr.  George  Fisher,  and  Pierre 
Menard,  an  able  and  benevolent  Frenchman  born 
in  Canada  who  had  come  to  the  territory  in  1790. 
Both  factions  in  the  beginning  were  proslavery  as 
was  Harrison  himself.  They  were  reduced  to 
differing  as  to  the  method  of  overruling  the  pro- 
hibition in  the  Northwest  Ordinance,  and  intro- 
ducing slaves.  Harrison's  following  sponsored 
petitions  to  Congress  for  the  relaxation  of  the 
ordinance;  in  1796  and  1800  the  Illinois  country 
had  so  petitioned  without  effect.  In  1802  Har- 
rison summoned  a  convention  of  the  territory 
which  drew  up  a  memorial  to  Congress  asking 
among  other  things  admission  of  slaves  for  ten 
years.  A  committee  of  Congress  finally  reported 
favorably  on  it,  but  nothing  was  done.  Mean- 
while, in  1803  Harrison  and  the  territorial  judges 
had  adopted  an  indenture  law  allowing  negroes 
to  be  indentured  and  brought  into  the  territory 
to  serve  long  terms  of  years. 

The  anti-Harrison  element  at  first  advocated 
proceeding  to  the  second  stage  of  territorial  gov- 
ernment as  a  means  of  getting  a  delegate  in  Con- 
gress to  voice  the  plea  for  slavery.  In  1804  Har- 
rison swung  around  to  support  the  proposal;  and 


SHADRACK   BOND 

[Courtesy  of  Illinois  State  Historical  Library] 
(1773—1830) 


The  Day  of  Small  Things  103 

his  opponents,  placing  party  before  consistency, 
changed  their  positions  and  opposed  the  measure 
they  had  before  advocated.  Harrison's  proposal 
carried  in  a  popular  vote,  and  a  pro-Harrison 
lower  house  of  the  legislature  was  elected  with 
George  Fisher,  William  Biggs,  and  Shadrach 
Bond,  members  from  the  two  Illinois  counties. 
In  1805  and  in  1807  this  body  passed  indenture 
laws  under  which  whole  families  of  negroes  down 
to  the  babe  at  the  breast  were  indentured  to  long 
terms  of  servitude.  The  same  years  saw  repeated 
a  series  of  petitions  from  the  legislature  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Illinois  for  a  modification  of 
the  Ordinance  to  permit  slavery.  Congressional 
committees  reported  them  favorably  but  did  no 
more.1 

In  1807  the  question  approached  the  crisis. 
The  elevation  of  Bond  and  Fisher  to  the  terri- 
torial council  had  left  their  seats  in  the  lower 
house  to  be  filled.  The  new  members  were  John 
Rice  Jones  and  John  Messenger,  both  of  the  anti- 
Harrison  faction.  Indiana  proper  was  no  longer 
agreed  on  the  subject  of  slavery;  men  with  anti- 
slavery  sentiments  had  begun  to  settle  in  Dear- 
born county;  in  1805  they  had  petitioned  Congress 

1  There  is  a  tradition  that  they  were  blocked  by  Jefferson,  who 
twenty  years  before  had  dispatched  James  Lemen  to  the  Illi- 
nois making  a  secret  compact  with  him  that  they  would  work 
together  to  keep  slavery  out  of  the  Northwest.  The  tradition 
rests^  on  documents  of  questionable  authenticity  and  is  belied 
by  signatures  of  James  Lemen  to  certain  proslavery  memorials. 


104  The  Story  of  Illinois 

to  be  annexed  to  the  free  state  of  Ohio.  They 
hoped  that  if  the  proslavery  bloc  of  the  Illinois 
country  was  detached  from  the  territory  that  they 
might  be  able  to  turn  the  balance  in  favor  of  free- 
dom. The  Edgar-Morrison  group  had  for  some 
time  been  working  for  separation  from  Indiana; 
in  1803  they  sought  to  have  the  Illinois  villages 
annexed  to  the  newly  purchased  Louisiana  terri- 
tory across  the  Mississippi;  in  1805,  1806,  and 
1808,  they  had  petitioned  for  the  erection  of  a 
separate  territory  in  Illinois;  the  last  of  the  three 
petitions  being  opposed  in  a  counter  petition  of 
the  Harrison  group. 

The  session  of  1808  saw  a  political  bargain  for 
the  election  of  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  the  Dearborn 
county  member  as  territorial  delegate  to  Con- 
gress, under  pledge  to  work  for  the  division  of 
the  territory.  As  Thomas  was  a  slippery  poli- 
tician the  Illinois  members  took  his  bond  for  spe- 
cific performance  of  the  bargain.  All  worked  out 
as  expected.  February  9,  1809,  Congress  set  off 
Illinois  Territory,  including  the  present  state  of 
Wisconsin.  As  a  fitting  commentary  on  the  fac- 
tional strife  that  led  up  to  the  division,  Rice 
Jones,  the  younger,  was  assassinated  on  the  street 
of  Kaskaskia,  and  the  anti-Harrison  speculating 
group  tried  to  fix  complicity  in  the  murder  on 
their  enemy,  Michael  Jones,  the  land  commis- 
sioner. 


The  Day  of  Small  Things  105 

Fortunately,  the  organization  of  the  new  Illi- 
nois Territory  was  with  one  exception  entrusted 
to  new  men.  Jesse  B.  Thomas  came  back  as  ter- 
ritorial judge,  but  his  colleagues,  Alexander  Stu- 
art and  Obediah  Jones,  soon  replaced  by  Stanley 
Griswold  were  strangers.  So  was  the  secretary, 
Nathaniel  Pope,  and  his  relative  the  new  gover- 
nor, Ninian  Edwards  of  Kentucky.  Edwards 
adroitly  refused  to  take  sides  with  either  faction, 
and  based  his  appointments  to  office  so  far  as  he 
could  on  popular  referenda.  In  18 12  the  terri- 
tory voted  almost  unanimously  to  proceed  to  the 
second  grade  of  territorial  government;  and  Con- 
gress in  1 8 12  extended  the  suffrage  to  all  adult 
males  resident  a  year  and  paying  taxes;  for  the 
older  freehold  requirement  would  have  barred  the 
majority  of  the  population.  In  October  of  18 12 
the  junior  Shadrach  Bond  was  elected  delegate  to 
Congress  and  a  territorial  legislature  was  chosen. 

The  only  measure  at  issue  in  the  local  politics 
of  Illinois  Territory  concerned  the  legislature's 
attempt  to  regulate  the  terms  of  court  held  by 
the  federal  judges ;  ultimately  it  gave  up  the  strug- 
gle and  created  courts  independent  of  those  pro- 
vided by  the  federal  government.  But  the  history 
of  Indiana  Territory  repeated  itself  in  the  forma- 
tion of  political  factions  for  and  against  the  gov- 
ernor. Some  men  such  as  Pierre  Menard  and  the 
Bonds  were  neutral.    Young  men  like  Elias  Kent 


io6  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Kane  and  John  McLean,  who  came  to  the  terri- 
tory to  seek  their  fortunes,  joined  the  opposition; 
others  like  Pope's  relative,  Daniel  Pope  Cook, 
gathered  round  Edwards. 

The  close  of  the  War  of  1812  saw  a  rapid  de- 
velopment in  Illinois.  Harbingers  of  civilized 
community  life  such  as  newspapers  appeared.  In 
1 8 14  the  Illinois  Herald  was  founded  at  Kaskas- 
kia,  continuing  under  several  changes  of  name. 
In  18 18  at  Shawneetown,  now  the  natural  gate- 
way to  Illinois  from  the  east,  Peter  Kimmel 
founded  the  Illinois  Emigrant.  Population 
flooded  into  the  territory.  By  1818  it  seemed 
quite  possible  that  statehood  was  attainable. 
Daniel  Pope  Cook  in  18 17  began  a  campaign  for 
it  in  the  Western  Intelligencer  as  the  Illinois 
Herald  was  then  called.  Opinion  seemed  to 
favor  the  measure  and  in  Congress  Nathaniel 
Pope  as  territorial  delegate  introduced  a  bill  for 
an  enabling  act. 

The  result  is  a  high  tribute  to  Pope's  political 
skill.  He  managed  to  maneuver  the  bill  through 
both  houses;  the  best  testimony  to  his  address  is 
the  fact  that  a  similar  bill  concerning  Missouri 
was  introduced  too  late  and  failed  of  passage. 
The  terms  obtained  for  Illinois  were  most  liberal: 
of  the  proceeds  of  government  sales  of  land  within 
her  borders  Illinois  was  to  have  3  per  cent  for 
education  and  2  per  cent  to  be  expended  by  Con- 


The  Day  of  Small  Things  107 

gress  for  roads  leading  to  the  state.  In  addition 
she  received  section  16  in  each  township  for 
schools,  a  whole  township  for  a  seminary  of 
learning,  and  all  salt  licks.  Her  northern  bound- 
ary instead  of  being  the  east  and  west  line  through 
the  foot  of  Lake  Michigan,  as  the  Northwest 
Ordinance  prescribed,  was  set  as  it  now  stands, 
some  sixty  miles  farther  north.  Pope  in  advocat- 
ing the  change  in  the  terms  of  the  ordinance  em- 
phasized the  importance  of  giving  the  new  state 
a  footing  on  the  Great  Lakes  and  territorial  pro- 
pinquity to  both  north  and  south.  At  present  the 
importance  of  the  change  secured  by  Pope  is  best 
measured  by  the  fact  that  55  per  cent  of  Illinois 
population  lies  in  the  territory  he  secured.  In 
the  days  of  the  slavery  struggle  the  voters  of  the 
section  turned  the  tide  for  the  election  of 
Lincoln.1 

The  enabling  act  once  passed,  a  Constitutional 
Convention  was  speedily  elected.  It  began  its 
labors  August  3  and  concluded  them  23  days 
after.  With  but  little  difficulty  it  framed  a  very 
rudimentary  government  in  which  practically  all 
of  the  legislative  and  most  of  the  appointive 
power  was  placed  in  the  General  Assembly.  Ter- 
ritorial experience  with  governors  and  judiciaries 
united  with  current  political  theory  to  leave  the 

1  Lincoln  carried  the  state  in  i860  by  12,000  votes  plurality. 
His  plurality  in  the  district  must  have  been  over  25,000. 


108  The  Story  of  Illinois 

judiciary  subject  to  the  regulation  of  the  legis- 
lature, and  to  intrust  to  the  governor  and  judges 
sitting  as  a  Council  of  Revision  only  a  veto  power 
that  could  be  and  usually  was  overriden  by  a  ma- 
jority of  members  elected  to  the  legislature. 

Again  the  slavery  question  was  the  burning 
one.  Slavery  and  antislavery  had  been  the  issue 
in  the  elections  to  the  convention;  both  sides  had 
filled  the  newspapers  with  their  articles.  The 
antislavery  party  lost  the  elections,  but  prudence 
lest  Congress  refuse  to  accept  the  constitution 
made  its  provisions  on  slavery  nondescript.  It  con- 
firmed the  territorial  indentures  but  prohibited 
the  further  introduction  of  slavery.  Without  sub- 
mission to  a  popular  vote  the  constitution  came 
before  Congress.  There,  with  the  Missouri 
struggle  impending,  northern  men  challenged  the 
Illinois  constitution  as  a  violation  of  the  ordi- 
nance; but  on  December  3,  1818,  Illinois  was 
formally  admitted  to  the  Union. 

For  six  years  more  in  the  state  slavery  re- 
mained the  great  political  issue.  The  Missouri 
struggle  that  began  in  the  very  session  in  which 
the  Illinois  representatives  first  took  their  seats 
riveted  men's  attention  to  the  course  of  their 
representatives  on  the  question.  John  McLean, 
the  state's  first  congressman,  was  defeated  for  re- 
election by  Cook  on  the  issue  of  McLean's  vote 
for  the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave  state. 


MRS.   SHADRACK   BOND 

Courtesy  of  Illinois  State  Historical  Library] 


The  Day  of  Small  Things  109 

Ninian  Edwards  and  Jesse  B.  Thomas  were  the 
state's  senators,  and  both  were  on  the  side  of 
slavery.  To  Thomas  was  entrusted  the  introduc- 
tion in  the  senate  of  the  famous  amendment  em- 
bodying the  Missouri  Compromise  providing  for 
the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave  state  on  con- 
dition that  slavery  be  barred  from  the  rest  of  the 
Louisiana  Territory  north  of  thirty-six  degrees 
and  thirty  minutes.  A  strong  opposition  to  both 
men  developed  because  of  their  proslavery 
attitude. 

The  victory  of  the  slavery  forces  on  the  Mis- 
souri question  apparently  encouraged  the  advo- 
cates of  slavery  in  Illinois.  Repeatedly  it  had 
been  said  in  debate  that  the  Northwest  Ordinance 
prohibition  of  slavery  could  not  bind  a  sovereign 
state  after  its  admission  to  the  Union.  A  slave 
state  across  the  river  from  Illinois,  already  domi- 
nating Illinois  trade  from  its  metropolis  of  St. 
Louis,  would  attract  away  the  well-to-do  southern 
emigrants  so  long  as  Illinois  remained  free. 
Young  men  of  means  in  a  frontier  community  re- 
sented the  fact  that  their  wives  for  want  of  do- 
mestic help  had  to  toil  at  household  tasks  and 
hoped  for  a  state  of  things  in  which  house  maids 
would  be  a  purchasable  commodity.  Missourians, 
indignant  that  antislavery  sentiment  in  Illinois 
had  meddled  with  their  domestic  concern  of  slav- 
ery,   planned    to    retaliate.      The    Shawneetown 


no  The  Story  of  Illinois 

saline  required  labor  to  build  fires  and  carry 
water;  and  Adolphus  F.  Hubbard  reminded  the 
Illinois  legislature  that  these  were  duties  for 
which  divine  providence  had  pointed  out  the  ne- 
gro. A  campaign  for  the  amendment  of  the  Illi- 
nois constitution  to  admit  slavery  was  soon  under 
way. 

Much  turned  on  the  election  for  governor  in 
1822.  Four  candidates  were  in  the  field.  Of 
them  Judge  Joseph  Phillips  was  proslavery, 
James  B.  Moore  perhaps  antislavery,  Thomas  C. 
Browne,  nondescript,  and  Edward  Coles,  a  stiff 
Virginian  of  the  Jeffersonian  school,  lately  come 
to  Illinois,  avowedly  antislavery;  by  a  narrow 
margin  Coles  was  elected. 

A  resolution  submitting  to  the  people  the  call- 
ing of  a  convention  to  amend  the  constitution 
came  up  in  the  General  Assembly  of  1822-23.  In 
the  Senate  the  proslavery  forces  had  the  necessary 
two-thirds  majority.  In  the  House  at  first  they 
lacked  it  by  one  vote.  There  was,  however,  a 
contested  election  in  Pike  county  between  John 
Shaw  and  Nicholas  Hansen;  the  technical  merits 
of  the  contest  are  in  doubt.  But  Hansen  was 
seated  early  in  the  session,  apparently  to  get  a 
vote  against  Ninian  Edwards  for  United  States 
Senator.  When  Hansen  voted  against  the  con- 
vention resolution,  the  House  by  a  majority  vote 
reopened  the  question  of  his  election,   reversed 


The  Day  of  Small  Things  1 1 1 

its  former  decision,  seated  John  Shaw  in  his 
stead,  and  with  Shaw's  vote  passed  the  resolution. 

A  two  years'  campaign  before  the  people  began 
at  once.  Coles  by  his  position  the  leader  of  the 
anticonvention  forces,  drew  to  his  aid  Morris 
Birkbeck,  the  English  radical,  who  had  sought  in 
Illinois  a  refuge  from  the  aristocratic  control  of 
English  politics,  and  had  been  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  English  settlement  in  Edwards  county. 
Other  antislavery  men  rallied  to  them.  The  Ed- 
wardsville  Spectator,  although  its  editor,  Hooper 
Warren,  was  personally  hostile  to  Coles,  became 
the  antislavery  organ;  soon  the  antislavery  men 
gained  control  of  the  Illinois  Intelligencer.  East- 
ern Quakers  contributed  antislavery  pamphlets 
for  distribution.  In  newspapers  and  public  meet- 
ings two  years'  incessant  argument  ran  on.  The 
Jonathan  Freeman  letters  of  Birkbeck  are  the 
ablest  contribution  to  the  controversy;  they  were 
intended  to  drive  home  to  the  small  farmer  the 
fact  that  the  presence  of  slaves  in  the  community 
would  be  a  degradation  of  the  dignity  of  labor 
and  of  the  man  who  worked  with  his  hands.  On 
religious,  on  economic,  on  moral  grounds  the  ar- 
gument was  waged  for  and  against;  in  the  elec- 
tion of  1824  the  people  registered  their  verdict 
against  the  calling  of  a  convention  by  a  vote  of 
6,640  to  4,972. 

With  1824  the  slavery  issue  disappeared  from 


H2  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Illinois  politics  so  completely  that  in  future  years 
the  advocates  of  a  convention  like  Kane,  Kinney, 
and  McLean  fared  far  better  in  politics  than  the 
men  like  Coles  and  Birkbeck  who  opposed  it. 
The  search  for  a  reason  for  this  last  fact  brings 
us  to  the  exigencies  of  factional  politics  in  the 
state.  The  Edwards  and  anti-Edwards  factions 
as  such  had  not  taken  sides  in  the  convention 
struggle;  and  factional  alliances  were  in  the  twen- 
ties the  most  potent  factors  in  making  or  marring 
men's  political  fortunes. 

For  about  ten  years  after  the  admission  of  Illi- 
nois to  the  Union  the  Edwards  and  anti-Edwards 
factions  had  contested  the  control  of  the  state. 
In  1 81 8  they  seem  to  have  reached  a  tacit  agree- 
ment on  a  division  of  the  offices.  Bond  and  Me- 
nard at  that  time  allied  with  neither  group  became 
governor  and  lieutenant-governor;  indeed  with 
such  a  disposal  of  offices  in  view  the  constitutional 
convention  had  for  Menard's  special  benefit  modi- 
fied the  citizenship  qualification  for  lieutenant- 
governor.  Of  the  anti-Edwards  faction,  Kane 
became  secretary  of  state  and  Thomas  senator; 
of  the  Edwards  group  Edwards  was  elected  sen- 
ator and  Pope  was  appointed  federal  judge.  In 
the  only  contest  of  anti-Edwards  and  Edwards 
men  McLean  beat  Cook  for  Congress. 

The  party  contests  between  the  factions  do  not 
seem  usually  to  have  been  carried  into  elections 


The  Day  of  Small  Things  113 

for  the  state  legislature;  there  the  personal  popu- 
larity of  the  candidates,  save  when  the  slavery 
issue  was  introduced,  determined  the  result.  The 
main  contests  between  the  factions  before  the  peo- 
ple came  in  the  successive  elections  for  Congress 
in  which  year  by  year  Cook  defeated  one  after 
another  the  strongest  candidates  of  the  anti-Ed- 
wards group;  McLean  in  1820,  Kane  in  1822, 
Bond  in  1824. 

Meanwhile  in  the  Senate  Edwards,  now  Cook's 
father-in-law,  was  engaged  in  a  bitter  quarrel  with 
Jesse  B.  Thomas,  partly  at  least  over  patronage. 
The  presidential  question  also  entered  in.  Ever 
since  18 17  the  candidates  had  been  groomed  for 
the  succession  to  Monroe  in  1824.  Henry  Clay 
of  Kentucky,  William  H.  Crawford  of  Georgia, 
John  Quincy  Adams  of  Massachusetts,  John  C. 
Calhoun  of  South  Carolina,  De  Witt  Clinton  of 
New  York,  and  Andrew  Jackson  of  Tennessee 
stood  out  as  candidates,  dividing  the  Illinois  state 
factions  into  partisan  groups.  Of  the  two  sen- 
ators Thomas  was  for  Crawford  and  Edwards 
for  Calhoun.  Edwards,  throwing  himself  too 
hotly  into  the  war  on  Crawford,  was  caught  con- 
tributing to  a  Washington  paper  anonymous 
articles  signed  "A.  B."  attacking  Crawford's  re- 
lations as  secretary  of  the  treasury  with  western 
banks;  he  resigned  from  the  senate  in  1824  under 
a  cloud. 


H4  The  Story  of  Illinois 

The  presidential  election  of  1824  was  hotly 
contested  in  Illinois.  That  of  1820,  the  first  in 
which  the  state  had  taken  part,  had  been  a  fore- 
gone conclusion  for  Monroe,  and  had  excited  no 
interest  save  among  candidates  for  elector  to  vote 
for  Monroe.  Now,  Jackson,  Clay,  Adams,  and 
Crawford  all  had  their  candidates  for  elector  in 
the  field  in  the  three  electoral  districts  into  which 
the  state  was  then  divided.  The  result  was  close, 
and  marked  by  sharp  jockeying  on  all  sides.  Jack- 
son electors  were  chosen  in  two  districts,  an 
Adams  elector  in  the  third.  Cook,  however,  be- 
lieved he  had  received  a  mandate  for  no  candidate 
and  when  as  sole  congressman  for  Illinois  he  had 
to  cast  her  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
voting  by  states,  he  cast  it  for  John  Quincy  Adams 
—  an  act  that  was  to  plague  him  thereafter. 

In  1826  Ninian  Edwards  determined  to  seek 
rehabilitation  for  his  part  in  the  A.  B.  scandal  by 
seeking  election  as  governor.  At  the  same  time 
his  son-in-law,  Cook,  was  running  for  a  fourth 
successive  term  in  Congress,  under  the  supposed 
handicap  of  having  disregarded  the  expressed  will 
of  his  constituents  in  casting  the  vote  of  Illinois 
for  Adams  rather  than  for  Jackson.  But  heavier 
than  this  weighed  upon  both  father-in-law  and 
son-in-law  their  relationship  and  the  fact  that  they 
avowedly  stood  forth  as  leaders  and  candidates 
of  a  faction.     They  were  opposed  by  two  young 


The  Day  of  Small  Things  115 

men  late  comers  to  the  state  and  not  in  the  popu- 
lar mind  connected  with  either  faction,  though 
both  doubtless  had  the  full  support  of  the  anti- 
Edwards  group.  In  the  event  Edwards  beat 
Thomas  Sloo,  Jr.,  by  but  a  few  hundred  votes,  and 
Cook  was  defeated  by  Joseph  Duncan,  a  young 
Kentucky  veteran  of  the  War  of  1812.  Cook  did 
not  survive  his  defeat  a  year. 

With  this  election  the  first  era  of  Illinois  poli- 
tics comes  to  an  end.  The  slavery  question  for 
over  a  generation  had  been  the  one  real  issue;  for 
almost  a  generation  men  had  acquiesced  in  seeing 
the  spoils  of  office  contended  for  by  political  fac- 
tions aristocratic  in  their  leadership  based  frankly 
on  family  alliances  and  personal  likes  and  dislikes. 
In  one  form  or  another  these  factions  had  influ- 
enced Illinois  elections  for  the  first  eight  years  of 
statehood,  and  at  length  people  were  weary  of 
them.  In  the  defeat  of  Cook  and  the  unexpect- 
edly close  election  of  Edwards  they  showed  their 
disgust. 

A  new  system  of  politics  was  slowly  emerging, 
a  system  in  which  national  issues  and  national 
parties  would  divide  the  voters  and  make  the 
Illinois  whig  nearer  akin  to  the  New  England 
one  than  to  the  Illinois  democrat.  The  period  of 
close  party  organization  and  of  loyalty  to  nation- 
al parties  was  at  hand.  In  these  years  the  sense 
was  developing  that  it  was  for  the  people  to  de- 


IJ6  The  Story  of  Illinois 


cide  on  political  questions,  to  elect  their  party 
leaders,  and  to  control  their  party  machinery. 
All  this  was  the  antithesis  of  the  system  of 
aristocratic  political  factions  represented  by 
Edwards  and  Cook.  In  1826  the  voters  of 
the  state  registered  their  disapproval,  but  eight 
years  were  to  elapse  before  the  old  factions  had 
completely  disintegrated  and  the  new  democratic 
and  whig  parties  had  come  in  their  stead. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  FRONTIER 

BETWEEN  the  establishment  of  the  first 
English  trading  posts  to  the  west  of  the 
Alleghanies  about  the  year  1740  and  the  formal 
announcement  of  the  United  States  Census  Bu- 
reau in  1890  that  the  frontier  had  disappeared 
we  count  a  century  and  a  half.  In  it  a  mighty 
flood  of  population  recruited  from  the  older 
America  and  from  most  of  Europe  had  spread 
over  an  area  of  three  million  square  miles  of 
swamp,  prairie,  oak  barren,  forest,  mountain, 
desert  and  plain,  had  laid  hold  of  whatever  land 
was  immediately  fitted  for  the  use  of  man,  and 
had  established  upon  it  thirty-one  commonwealths, 
fused  into  one  great  nation.  Such  an  achievement 
the  world  has  not  before  recorded.  Part  and 
parcel  of  it,  representing  a  certain  stage  of  prog- 
ress in  it,  in  some  details  resembling  the  rest  of 
the  movement,  in  others  unique  is  the  founding 
and  development  of  Illinois. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  in- 
terior valleys  of  the  Alleghanies  were  a  seething 
trough  in  which  was  forming  a  mixture  of  Anglo 
Saxons,  Scotchmen  for  a  few  generations  resident 

117 


11 8  The  Story  of  Illinois 


in  Ireland  but  not  of  it,  and  Germans  driven  from 
their  homes  by  the  wars  and  persecutions  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  From  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  colonies  farther  south  the  human 
elements  poured  in,  tending  ever  westward  and 
southward.  The  chance  of  travel  might  separate 
members  of  the  same  family  by  a  thousand  miles 
till  of  the  stock  that  entered  the  valley  at  the  north 
in  1740  a  half  century  later  traces  might  be  found 
all  the  way  to  Georgia.  By  1740  the  flood  was 
already  surging  up  the  western  barrier  of  the 
Alleghanies.  The  Seven  Years  War — the 
French  and  Indian  War  as  America  named  it  — 
for  a  time  restrained  it;  the  Proclamation  of  1763 
and  the  British  ministerial  prohibition  restrained 
it  a  little  longer;  but  by  1774  the  trickles  of  popu- 
lation running  out  into  Kentucky  were  becoming 
torrents.  By  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  fifteen  years  later  Kentucky 
was  already  a  populous  state.  Tennessee  was 
ready  for  admission  to  the  union  in  1796.  Six 
years  later  Ohio  was  admitted.  The  western  tide 
flowed  on,  more  slowly  till  after  the  War  of  18 12, 
then  with  a  rush  which  within  five  years  of  the 
Treaty  of  Ghent  brought  five  new  western  states 
into  the  union:  Indiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama, 
Missouri,  and  Illinois.  It  is  at  this  stage  and  for 
the  succeeding  generation  that  the  human  tor- 
rent engages  our  especial  interest.     It  defies  de- 


The  Frontier  119 


scription.  Eddying  in  it  were  specimens  of  dis- 
tinct social  strata,  distinct  modes  of  life,  thought 
and  opinions;  from  year  to  year,  from  district 
to  district,  its  outward  appearance  varied.  But 
some  generalization  about  it  and  the  economic, 
social  and  political  organizations  it  developed  in 
Illinois,  inevitably  inaccurate,  must  be  attempted. 
Long  before  1818  new  settlers  were  converg- 
ing on  Illinois  from  different  directions.  They 
came  from  North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Virginia, 
Kentucky,  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  New  York, 
even  from  New  England.  At  this  period,  how- 
ever, the  Ohio  was  the  main  highway  to  the  state 
and  Shawneetown  its  gateway.  Drifting  down 
the  Ohio  on  flat  boats  large  enough  to  house  a 
settler's  horses  and  cattle,  before  1796  equipped 
with  log  breastworks  against  the  lurking  Indians; 
steered  down  in  later  years  in  keel  boat  or  steam- 
boat the  emigrants  came.  A  few  of  them  found 
their  way  across  the  Wabash  from  Indiana,  a 
few  came  by  the  roads  or  rivers  of  western  Ken- 
tucky converging  on  the  Ohio  and  merely  crossed 
it  to  reach  the  state;  but  the  main  travel  in  the 
early  years  was  by  the  Ohio.  Later,  the  rivers 
were  supplemented  by  the  Cumberland  Road,  the 
great  national  highway  from  Wheeling  on  the 
Ohio  across  the  states  of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and 
by  other  land  routes.  Along  them  passed  the 
emigrant  wagons  loaded  with  the  "plunder"  of 


120  The  Story  of  Illinois 

the  newcomers,  their  horses  and  their  cattle. 

The  classes  that  traveled  the  routes  to  the  West 
were  diverse  as  might  be.  The  first  comer  was 
the  typical  outlier  of  civilization,  imbued  with  the 
love  for  the  wilderness;  a  lone  wolf,  often  scarce- 
ly more  than  a  savage,  with  a  savage's  cruelty, 
ignorance  and  superstition.  Men  of  this  type 
flitted  before  the  advancing  tide  of  settlement. 
After  them  came  the  squatter,  stopping  a  year  or 
five  years  in  a  place  to  build  a  cabin,  and  clear 
a  few  acres  of  corn  for  his  family  to  supplement 
the  spoils  of  his  rifle,  until  he  sold  his  improve- 
ments to  a  more  permanent  settler  and  moved  on. 
Sometimes  he  was  shiftless  and  indolent,  some- 
times he  was  merely  cursed  with  a  poverty  that 
would  not  permit  him  to  buy  land  of  his  own.  A 
fortunate  sale  of  his  improvements,  a  year  or  two 
of  lucrative  wages  paid  him  by  a  wealthier  settler 
and  he  might  succeed  in  entering  a  tract  of  land 
and  become  a  solid  member  of  the  community. 

After  the  squatter  came  the  farmer,  the  man 
with  stock  or  capital  who  did  not  settle  on  any 
land  save  what  he  owned  or  expected  to  be  able 
to  buy.  Primitive  in  his  first  living  arrangements 
on  the  frontier,  he  kept  in  his  mind  the  ideal  of 
approximating  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  comforts 
of  his  old  home  back  East.  Like  the  squatter  his 
household  arrangements  in  the  West  might  begin 
with  a  half  faced  camp  of  logs  rolled  up  to  afford 


The  Frontier  121 


shelter  on  three  sides  with  an  open  fire  on  the 
fourth  to  which  the  sleeping  family  stretched  its 
feet  for  warmth;  but  this  was  speedily  to  be  suc- 
ceeded with  the  farmer  by  the  single  or  double 
log  cabin,  with  puncheoned  floors,  chinked  walls, 
and  finally,  efficient  doors  and  windows.  The 
small  caliber  rifle,  the  spinning  wheel,  wool  cards, 
and  heavy  plow  were  the  essential  adjuncts.  A 
few  bits  of  finer  portable  furniture  might  recall 
the  comforts  of  the  old  home.  The  clock  was  a 
sufficiently  important  adjunct  to  erect  clock  ped- 
dling into  a  separate  calling,  recognized  by  Illinois 
law.  The  farmer  of  the  type  outlined  was  the 
backbone  of  the  new  community. 

Rising  above  him  in  gentility  of  birth  and  breed- 
ing, in  good  social  position,  in  education  were  the 
young  men  who  came  to  the  frontier  to  seek  a 
fortune.  Notable  examples  were  Ninian  Ed- 
wards who  abandoned  a  Kentucky  judgeship  in 
1809  to  take  the  governorship  of  Illinois  Terri- 
tory and  make  a  fortune  in  land  and  trade,  and 
Elias  Kent  Kane  of  a  good  New  York  family, 
a  Yale  graduate,  who  came  on  a  similar  errand 
and  at  length  became  the  Jacksonian  leader  in  the 
state. 

In  the  little  frontier  towns  all  these  elements 
rubbed  elbows.  Such  places  as  Shawneetown, 
Kaskaskia,  Edwardsville  were  little  communities 
with  a  few  brick  and  many  more  log  buildings, 


122  The  Story  of  Illinois 

set  in  streets  of  bottomless  mud  where  lawless 
backwoodsmen  and  keelboatmen  turned  Sunday 
into  a  day  of  revelry.  Yet  in  their  streets  the 
fine  lady  might  encounter  the  squatter's  wife,  and 
the  lone  wolf  trapper  the  young  college  graduate 
alert  for  a  land  speculation. 

The  stores  of  these  villages  advertised  not 
only  the  hardware,  rifles,  powder,  blankets,  rough 
stuffs  and  calicoes  demanded  by  the  frontiersman, 
and  the  squatter  and  his  wife,  but  the  fine  wines, 
brandies,  cigars,  lemons,  spices,  boxed  sweet- 
meats, the  silver  tea  services,  and  jewelry,  the 
broadcloths,  linens,  silks,  and  laces  to  which  the 
more  aristocratic  classes  were  accustomed.  The 
advertisements  of  the  stores  are  an  index  to  the 
diverse  standards  of  life  of  the  frontier  commu- 
nity. 

The  towns  such  as  these  were  the  centers  of 
the  little  commercial  life  of  the  early  twenties. 
Their  stores  sold  wholesale  to  storekeepers  in 
the  little  outlying  hamlets,  Golconda,  Carmi, 
Vienna.  Of  local  customers  they  took  produce 
in  exchange  for  goods  —  furs,  skins,  honey,  corn, 
whisky,  venison  hams,  barrelled  beef  and  pork, 
and  shipped  the  produce  to  New  Orleans  by  flat- 
boat,  keelboat  or  steamboat  on  their  own  account. 
Often  farmers  would  consign  produce  to  them  on 
commission.  Sometimes  a  farmer  would  build  a 
flatboat,  freight  it  with  his  produce  and  with  a 


The  Frontier  123 


neighbor's  boy  or  two  to  man  it  float  down  the 
Wabash  or  Illinois  to  the  market  at  New  Orleans. 
The  merchant's  notions  of  merchandising  were 
not  modem.  Apparently  a  man  pricing  goods 
was  expected  to  buy.  The  glass  of  whisky  sealed 
every  trade  even  to  the  smallest,  and  a  dram  shop 
was  called  a  grocery.  In  the  Lincoln-Douglas 
debates  Lincoln  thought  it  necessary  to  deny 
Douglas'  description  of  him  as  a  prominent 
grocery  keeper  of  the  earlier  day.  Sales  were  on 
long  credits,  and  newspapers  were  filled  with  ad- 
vertisements calling  on  delinquent  debtors  to 
settle  at  once.  The  storekeeper  in  turn  bought 
on  long  credit  in  Baltimore,  Norfolk  or  Phila- 
delphia; in  the  thirties  New  York  merchants  sent 
out  traveling  salesmen  to  the  west;  occasionally 
merchants  in  places  convenient  to  Lake  Michigan 
made  the  trip  to  New  York  to  select  their  stocks, 
and  gathered  tales  to  relate  at  home  of  the 
theaters,  the  beauties,  the  dandies,  and  the  fast 
trotting  horses  of  Broadway. 

This  trade  meager  as  it  was  was  carried  on  in 
spite  of  a  circulating  medium  rather  than  with 
it.  The  twenties  were  cursed  with  a  financial 
problem  that  was  never  solved  partly  because  it 
was  never  understood.  Illinois  in  the  days  of 
early  statehood  suffered  like  every  other  young 
community  for  lack  of  capital.  Money  was 
needed  to  buy  from  the  East  the  hardware  and 


124  The  Story  of  Illinois 

the  other  goods  necessary  to  establish  civilization 
in  the  West.  What  good  money  there  was 
drained  speedily  out  of  the  country  to  pay  debts 
owed  to  the  East  or  by  way  of  the  government 
land  offices  to  the  eastern  branches  of  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States.  Against  its  additional  debts 
to  the  East  incurred  for  goods  brought  at  ruinous 
transportation  charges  across  the  mountains  and 
down  the  Ohio,  it  could  set  only  the  credits  due 
it  for  produce  shipped  to  New  Orleans.  But  the 
produce  that  the  West  poured  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi was  more  than  New  Orleans  could  use  or 
export:  surplus  foodstuffs  piled  on  its  wharves; 
beef  and  pork  salted  with  the  cheap  western  salt 
instead  of  the  fine  imported  article  spoiled  in  the 
sun.  Above  all,  the  exchange  mechanism  fur- 
nished the  country  by  the  Second  Bank  of  the 
United  States  and  its  branches  did  not  enable  the 
credits  accumulated  by  the  West  at  New  Orleans 
to  be  set  off  against  the  debts  it  owed  to  the  East. 
Financial  ruin  stared  the  West  in  the  face. 

It  is  difficult  by  mere  description  to  make  clear 
how  bad  was  the  currency  situation  in  the  West. 
There  banks  had  sprung  up,  good,  bad,  and  in- 
different in  response  to  the  crying  need  of  the 
country  for  capital,  misunderstood  as  a  need  for 
more  money.  Money  these  banks  provided  in 
the  form  of  bank  notes  and  credits;  the  former 
mingled  with   the   flood   of  notes   from   eastern 


The  Frontier  125 


banks  of  all  the  reverse  degrees  of  excellence  cir- 
culating to  deceive  the  ignorant  at  twenty  different 
discounts.  In  those  days  counterfeiting  was  mere- 
ly an  offense  against  state  law.  There  was  no 
federal  secret  service  to  track  down  counterfeit- 
ers, and  counterfeit  notes  of  genuine  banks,  notes 
of  imaginary  banks,  genuine  notes  of  failed  banks 
all  added  to  the  confusion.  Many  of  the  state 
banks  established  in  the  Northwest  states  were 
badly  managed;  sometimes  they  persuaded  farm- 
ers and  merchants  to  take  loans  they  never  could 
hope  to  repay  in  order  to  take  possession  of  their 
lands  and  business  by  foreclosure.  The  Second 
Bank  of  the  United  States  and  its  branches  were 
in  this  respect  as  great  offenders  as  any.  They 
sought  first  to  harass  the  state  banks  by  present- 
ing their  notes  for  specie  redemption;  after  June, 
1 818,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  refused  to 
accept  the  notes  of  western  banks  deposited  with 
it  by  government  land  office  receivers  except  for 
collection. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury  Crawford  had 
labored  at  the  problem  with  a  patience  and  wis- 
dom for  which  he  has  not  been  given  due  credit. 
Confronted  by  the  refusal  of  the  United  States 
Bank  to  function  as  fiscal  agent  in  the  West, 
Crawford  sought  to  keep  the  machinery  of  finance 
running  by  selecting  western  banks  of  fair  repute 
as   government   depositories,    requiring   them   to 


I26  The  Story  of  Illinois 


transmit  at  par  to  the  East  the  notes  of  such 
western  banks  as  they  should  notify  the  land 
officers  they  would  accept.  Crawford  was  accused 
by  his  foes,  perhaps  with  truth,  of  granting  favors 
in  this  way  to  his  political  allies.  He  was  ac- 
cused also  of  having  lost  some  money  in  govern- 
ment deposits  in  failed  banks;  but  it  is  a  question 
whether  he  did  not  save  in  this  way  government 
funds  not  otherwise  recoverable,  and  give  some 
alleviation  to  the  hardships  of  the  West. 

Unfortunately  by  1822  the  whole  scheme  was 
dropped.  Meanwhile  Illinois  had  sought  relief 
for  the  inability  of  her  citizens  to  get  advances  to 
repay  their  loans  and  for  the  general  shortage 
of  money  by  the  creation  of  a  state  bank.  The 
legislature  in  18 19  authorized  one  by  an  act  which 
failed  to  go  into  effect.  In  1821  it  created  an- 
other with  branches,  ostensibly  to  loan  money  to 
citizens  who  needed  it!  The  unconstitutionality 
of  the  bank  under  the  clause  of  the  Federal  con- 
stitution forbidding  a  state  to  issue  bills  of  credit 
was  so  patent  that  the  bank  dared  not  sue  to 
collect  from  its  debtors.  Its  notes  depreciated, 
the  legislature  tried  to  maintain  them  by  making 
them  receivable  for  taxes  and  the  state  suffered 
heavy  financial  loss  before  it  finally  got  rid  of 
them.  Of  the  earlier  state  chartered  banks  the 
bank  at  Edwardsville  had  failed  and  the  Bank 
of  Illinois  at  Shawneetown  had  suspended  busi- 


The  Frontier  127 


ness.  The  whole  experience  of  the  twenties  left 
a  latent  distrust  of  paper  money  and  a  latent  im- 
pression that  banks  were  leeches  to  suck  the  blood 
of  the  farmer.  In  local  trade  barter  replaced 
the  use  of  money  of  any  kind.  All  these  things 
were  to  play  their  part  in  the  support  accorded 
Jackson  in  his  war  on  the  United  States  Bank, 
and  the  movement  of  the  forties  against  banks 
and   "bank  rags"    in  general. 

The  commerce,  trade  and  finance  of  the  new 
state  were,  however,  slight  things  beside  the  ex- 
ploitation of  its  land  and  the  making  of  farms 
and  homes  upon  it.  To  understand  this  a  brief 
consideration  of  the  federal  land  laws  is  neces- 
sary. Since  18 12  lands  had  been  purchased  at 
government  land  offices  in  Illinois,  first  at  Shaw- 
neetown  and  Kaskaskia,  later  at  Edwardsville 
also,  in  tracts  of  160  acres  at  a  minimum  rate  of 
two  dollars  an  acre,  of  which  amount  one-fourth 
was  payable  down  and  the  rest  in  payments  ex- 
tending over  four  years.  The  theory  on  which 
this  policy  had  been  adopted  in  a  series  of  federal 
acts  beginning  with  1800  was  that  the  farmer 
could  thus  pay  for  his  land  out  of  the  first  four 
crops.  Actually  such  a  thing  was  almost  impos- 
sible. Farmers  had  taken  advantage  of  the  act 
to  get  farms;  but  speculators  also  had  used  it  to 
acquire  options  on  choice  tracts  at  50  cents  an 
acre  on  the  chance  of  selling  at  a  profit  before 


128  The  Story  of  Illinois 

further  payments  were  due.  Disappointed  hopes 
filled  the  West  with  debtors  to  the  government 
who  could  not  and  would  not  pay  and  who  were 
too  numerous  to  be  dispossessed.  In  1820  Con- 
gress, in  spite  of  the  protests  of  speculators, 
abolished  the  whole  credit  system  and  provided 
for  cash  sales  at  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  an  acre, 
after  each  tract  had  been  put  up  at  auction.  Very 
little  land  was  bought  in  Illinois  for  ten  years 
thereafter.  Meanwhile  the  government  in  a 
series  of  relief  acts  offered  to  the  delinquent  pur- 
chasers full  title  to  an  amount  of  land  equivalent 
to  the  sums  they  had  actually  paid  in. 

The  land  speculator  was  at  work  in  Illinois 
from  the  beginning.  Young  men  came  to  seek 
their  fortunes  in  the  territory,  with  money  to 
invest  by  entering  fertile  tracts,  mill  seats  or 
possible  town  sites.  Town  sites  especially  offered 
on  every  side-;  advertisements  in  every  newspaper 
detailed  the  advantages  of  these  future  emporiums 
of  trade.  The  competition  between  town  site 
speculators  when  the  convention  of  18 18  was  in 
session  in  Illinois  led  the  convention  to  locate  the 
state's  second  capital  at  Vandalia  in  the  wilder- 
ness where  the  state  might  reap  the  profit  from 
the  sale  of  town  lots.  Eastern  speculators  worked 
through  Western  agents  or  bought  up  claims  of 
veterans  of  the  War  of  18 12  to  tracts  of  160 
acres  in  what  is  known  as  the  Military  Tract  — 


The  Frontier  129 


the  section  between  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi 
Rivers. 

Speculation  in  agricultural  land  of  course  was 
determined  by  the  lands  considered  most  desir- 
able; and  here  the  choice  was  a  strange  one.  Es- 
chewing the  broad  prairies  except  for  grazing, 
men  chose  uplands  heavily  timbered  with  hard 
wood.  This  has  been  ascribed  to  the  following 
syllogism;  if  land  that  will  support  the  heavy 
growth  of  hardwood  timber  is  better  than  scrub 
oak  barren,  scrub  oak  barren  in  turn  must  be 
better  than  land  that  grows  no  trees  at  all.  The 
more  likely  reason  is,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem, 
that  a  man  by  ax,  by  fire,  and  by  neighborly 
assistance  in  a  log  rolling,  by  girdling  trees  and 
planting  corn  among  the  decaying  stumps  could 
accomplish  more  than  he  could  on  prairie  land 
without  a  team  of  heavy  oxen  to  turn  the  first 
tough  sod.  From  18 18  Morris  Birkbeck,  the 
founder  of  the  English  settlement  in  Edwards 
county,  Edward  Coles,  and  others  labored  to 
teach  their  fellow  citizens  ways  of  dealing  with 
the  problem  of  the  prairies. 

Even,  in  the  thirties,  however,  when  population 
was  sweeping  over  the  prairies  of  Northwestern 
Illinois,  there  was  still  a  problem.  Breaking 
prairie  cost  several  dollars  an  acre,  splitting  rails 
and  putting  up  rail  fences  cost  several  dollars 
additional,  more  still  if  the  necessary  timber  was 


13°  The  Story  of  Illinois 


not  close  at  hand.  Even  then,  when  men  were 
locating  farms  on  the  prairie  they  took  care  to 
locate  their  homes  on  elevated  ground  near  good 
water,  and  to  take  a  part  of  the  farm  in  timber. 
A  man  who  located  his  entire  farm  on  the  prairie 
had  to  steal  his  timber  for  building  and  fencing 
from  government  land  or  the  land  of  a  nonresi- 
dent. Speculators  were  able  to  keep  control  of 
great  tracts  by  locating  the  fractional  sections  that 
covered  timbered  land  along  the  water  courses. 

The  attitude  of  men  toward  the  land  system 
varied  from  decade  to  decade.  For  ten  years 
after  1820  little  land  was  entered  in  southern 
Illinois.  What  few  sales  were  made  were  in  the 
central  part  of  the  state.  Men  either  acquired 
title  from  speculators,  or  squatted  on  unsold 
government  lands.  In  1828  William  Lee  D. 
Ewing,  the  receiver  of  the  Vandalia  Land  Dis- 
trict, reported  11 00  legal  electors  in  the  district 
and  total  sales  since  the  beginning  of  17,586  acres 
of  land. 

"The  citizens  of  this  country,"  he  wrote,  uare 
all  aware  of  the  discussions  that  have  httn  had  in 
Congress  on  the  subject  of  the  reduction  of  the 
price  of  those  lands.  They  believe  (which  is  very 
natural  for  them  to  do)  that  the  price  should  be 
reduced;  and  finding,  too,  that  they  are  supported 
in  this  opinion  by  many  of  our  most  enlightened 
legislators,  and  believing  that  efforts  will  again 
and   again  be  made  until  the   object   be   either 


The  Frontier  131 


effected  or  totally  defeated,  they  will  not  enter 
their  lands,  except  in  particular  instances  where 
places  are  found  to  possess  some  peculiar  advan- 
tages; but  will  continue  (as  they  have  long  done) 
to  cultivate  a  still  stronger  faith  in  an  under- 
standing among  themselves  not  to  enter  each 
other's  improvements,  nor  to  let  any  one  else  do 
it,  until  government  affords  them  some  relief  in 
the  shape  of  the  reduction  of  the  price  of  its 
lands. 

This  position  may  be  more  satisfactorily  illus- 
trated by  the  following  facts : 

In  the  county  of  Clay  there  are  about  one 
hundred  voting  inhabitants,  of  whom  there  are 
not  more  than  twenty  freeholders."  * 

The  land  policy  appealing  to  western  men  as 
the  ideal  one  was  the  policy  advocated  by  Sen- 
ator Thomas  Hart  Benton  of  Missouri,  known 
as  graduation  —  the  reduction  year  by  year  of 
the  price  of  lands  remaining  unsold  until  finally 
having  reached  a  price  of  twenty-five  cents  an 
acre  they  should  be  donated  to  the  states.  Joined 
with  this  was  the  right  of  actual  settlers  to  pre- 
emption—  the  right  to  buy  the  lands  on  which 
they  had  settled  at  the  minimum  price.  Of  such  a 
policy  there  was  no  chance  so  long  as  the  East 
had  the  majority  in  Congress.  It  was  twenty 
years  before  the  Federal  government  permanent- 
ly recognized  the  principle  of  preemption,  ten 
more   before   it   applied  that   of  graduation  on 

1  American  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  vol.  5,  p.  556. 


I32  The  Story  of  Illinois 

unsold  lands,  and  ten  more  before  it  adopted 
the  homestead  principle. 

In  Congress  the  West  had  to  wage  a  long  battle 
against  New  England  and  other  sections  that 
opposed  western  settlement,  lest  their  population 
be  drawn  off,  their  lands  depreciate  in  value  and 
their  manufacturers  lack  cheap  lands.  Western 
representatives,  therefore,  had  to  bargain  for 
support  where  they  could  find  it.  For  Southern 
support  of  a  reasonably  liberal  land  and  Indian 
policy  they  had  to  sacrifice  other  things.  The 
building  of  roads  and  canals  and  the  improvement 
of  rivers  at  government  expense  appealed  to  the 
westerners  who  desired  better  routes  to  carry 
their  produce  to  market;  similarly  they  desired  a 
protective  tariff  to  foster  the  household  industries 
of  nail  making  and  weaving.  Both  these  things 
could  have  been  had  by  alliance  with  New  Eng- 
land and  the  Northeast;  both  had  to  be  sacrificed 
to  conciliate  the  South. 

In  studying  the  intellectual  and  moral  forces 
that  played  upon  pioneer  Illinois  the  striking  thing 
is  that  the  Illinoisan  developed  and  improved  for 
himself  on  his  former  habits.  In  the  back  coun- 
try religion  and  religious  organization,  education 
and  schools,  politics  and  strong  government  did 
not  follow  close  on  the  pioneer;  he  had  to  learn 
the  need  of  them  and  to  evolve  them  out  of  his 
past  experience  with  a  little  assistance  from  organ- 


The  Frontier  133 


izations  back  East:  of  such  organizations  he  was 
essentially  suspicious  and  borrowed  as  few  as 
possible  of  their  ideas. 

As  to  religion,  the  first  westward  push  outran 
it.  Away  from  ministers  and  services,  men  for- 
got church  and  Sunday  observance.  The  deism 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  denying  the  supernat- 
ural and  indeed  all  save  the  moral  teachings  of 
Christianity,  had  shot  through  American  life  and 
thought.  In  the  West  it  very  often  took  the  form 
of  a  sort  of  diabolism  that  rejected  and  opposed 
all  organized  religion  as  hypocritical  and  super- 
stitious. Against  it  the  churches  had  to  contend 
for  very  life. 

The  Baptists  were  the  first  in  the  field.  The 
Baptist  church  order,  essentially  congregational, 
made  the  organization  of  churches  an  easy  affair. 
Every  zealous  lay  preacher,  no  matter  how  igno- 
rant, who  migrated  to  the  West,  was  the  possible 
seed  of  a  little  Baptist  church.  The  first  in  Illi- 
nois, at  New  Design,  dates  from  1796.  Similar 
churches  sprang  up  everywhere  with  little  denom- 
inational connection,  individually  marked  by 
strange  and  unorthodox  beliefs  —  such  a  one  as 
that  of  the  anti-Mission  Baptists  who  held  at- 
tempts to  convert  men  a  rebellion  against  divine 
predestination  that  had  decreed  from  the  begin- 
ning the  lost  and  the  saved.  The  elements  of 
order,   coherence,    and  unity  were   first  brought 


134  The  Story  of  Illinois. 

among  the  scattered  Baptist  churches  by  such 
missionaries  as  John  Mason  Peck  of  Connecticut, 
founder  of  churches,  Sunday  schools,  temperance 
societies,  newspapers,  of  Shurtleft  College  at 
Alton,  who  labored  some  forty  years  slowly  over- 
coming narrowness  and  distrust  in  the  order. 

Of  the  Protestant  denominations  the  Metho- 
dists were  next  on  the  ground  about  the  year  1 80 1 , 
but  Methodism  implied  organization.  Organized 
into  circuits  the  Methodist  church  was  an  aristoc- 
racy presided  over  by  bishops,  ruled  by  the  circuit 
riders  who  retained  their  voice  in  affairs  so  long 
as  their  devotion  and  their  bodily  strength  en- 
abled them  to  ride  the  bottomless  roads,  swim  the 
rivers  and  preach  with  all  the  power  of  a  rough 
oratory  and  a  deep-seated  conviction  to  the  vast 
camp  meeting  audiences  that  gathered  from  near 
and  far.  Great  natural  orators  like  James  Axley 
and  Peter  Cartwwght  when  God's  gifts  were 
strong  in  them  could  sway  multitudes  like  fields 
of  grain  in  the  wind  till  sinners  by  hundreds  with 
shouts  and  cries  were  torn  by  spiritual  agony  to 
find  at  length  spiritual  peace. 

Beneath  the  circuit  riders  were  the  settled,  or 
superannuated  ministers,  and  class  leaders,  with- 
out voice  in  the  government  of  the  church,  but 
continually  teaching  and  fortifying  the  converts 
and  the  faithful  generally.  Methodism  in  its 
earlier  years  preached  simplicity  in  apparel  and 


The  Frontier  135 


life,  the  abandonment  of  dancing,  card  playing, 
and  other  frivolous  amusements;  its  preachers 
withstood  to  the  face  the  vice  of  drinking  and 
the  sin  of  slaveholding;  in  later  years  as  Metho- 
dists waxed  in  wealth  pioneers  like  Cartwright 
bewailed  their  growing  laxity. 

Presbyterianism  was  in  Illinois  at  an  early  day, 
but  as  in  the  West,  generally  it  increased  slowly, 
mainly  because  of  its  insistence  on  an  educated 
ministry  to  teach  the  Calvinist  theology.  By  a 
bargain  of  1800  with  the  Congregationalists 
known  as  the  Plan  of  Union,  the  Presbyterians 
refrained  from  pushing  their  organization  further 
in  New  England,  and  Congregationalists  agreed 
that  the  two  denominations  should  unite  their 
missionary  activities  in  the  West  and  that  Presby- 
terianism should  be  the  form  of  organization 
there.  Their  set  missionary  activity  aroused 
western  distrust;  their  insistence  on  a  learned 
ministry  alarmed  the  simple  Methodist  and  Bap- 
tist preachers;  but  they  pushed  on.  Determined 
on  having  their  educated  preachers  they  dotted 
the  West  with  their  colleges  such  as  Illinois  Col- 
lege, Knox  and  Blackburn. 

Congregationalism,  however,  had  begun  to 
creep  in  in  defiance  of  the  Plan  of  Union  as  New 
England  emigrants  accustomed  to  that  form  of 
church  government  came  in  the  thirties.  The 
stricter  Presbyterians  believed  that  the  great  Con- 


136  The  Story  of  Illinois 

gregational  elements  already  absorbed  by  the  Plan 
of  Union  did  not  take  the  Presbyterian  discipline 
with  due  seriousness.  Yale  theology  came  to  be 
in  bad  repute;  finally  in  1837  the  conservative 
Princeton  theologians,  attracting  the  South  to 
their  support,  drove  the  lax  Presbyterians  of  the 
West  out  of  the  church.  In  Illinois  and  elsewhere 
the  church  divided  into  old  school  and  new  school, 
the  New  England  and  other  theologically  liberal 
elements  either  falling  into  the  new  school  Presby- 
terian organization  or  becoming  Congregation- 
alist.  The  Plan  of  Union  so  far  as  it  hindered  the 
establishment  of  Congregational  churches  was 
abandoned;  and  Presbyterians  and  Congregation- 
alists  quarreled  over  colleges  like  Knox  which 
they  had  formerly  combined  to  establish. 

Other  denominations  were  active;  the  Disci- 
ples or  Christians,  made  up  of  offshoots  from  the 
Presbyterian,  Methodist  and  Baptist  orders,  tak- 
ing the  Bible  as  their  sole  guide;  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterians,  an  offset  from  Presbyterianism  in 
the  great  revivals  at  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century;  and  various  others. 

Roman  Catholicism  slowly  made  its  way  again 
into  the  land  consecrated  by  the  devotion  of  Mar- 
quette. In  the  last  years  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury and  the  first  of  the  nineteenth  there  is  no 
record  of  a  priest  in  the  Illinois.  In  the  year 
1809  the  Trappist  Fathers  established  themselves 


The  Frontier  137 


on  the  great  mound  of  Cahokia.1  With  the 
founding  of  the  diocese  of  Bardstown,  Kentucky, 
in  1808  priests  again  began  their  labors.  Illinois 
was  a  part  of  Bardstown  and  of  dioceses  succes- 
sively set  off  from  it,  Vincennes,  St.  Louis  and 
Chicago,  founded  in  1844.  The  bishops  strug- 
gled with  the  problem  of  finding  competent  priests 
to  take  charge  of  the  scattered  but  growing  flocks. 
The  Irish  who  came  to  Illinois  to  labor  on  the 
works  of  internal  improvement  increased  the 
number  of  the  church;  but  its  real  development 
necessarily  came  with  the  great  European  migra- 
tion after  1870. 

As  an  intellectual  force  organized  religion  was 
relatively  more  important  in  the  pioneer  com- 
munity than  in  the  later  day.  The  sermon,  save 
for  the  political  speech,  was  for  the  great  mass  of 
the  population  the  only  intellectual  and  emotional 
stimulus,  the  only  example  of  creative  art.  West- 
ern Christianity  developed  certain  characteristics 
all  its  own.  Thrown  into  a  wilderness,  compelled 
to  do  battle  with  openly  hostile  deism  and  unbe- 
lief, it  became  strenuous,  vigorous,  even  violent. 
No  Methodist  circuit  rider  could  hold  a  camp 
meeting  unless  by  force  of  address  he  could  cow 
the  bullies  who  sought  to  break  it  up.  Mocking  a 
preacher  on  the  road  was  good  sport  for  ungodly 

1This  fact  gives  rise  to  the  name  of  Monks  Mound  by  which 
it  is  sometimes  known. 


138  The  Story  of  Illinois 

young  people.  Theological  belief  and  religious 
convictions  had  to  be  backed  by  one's  fists  on  occa- 
sion. The  church  had  none  of  the  protection  af- 
forded it  by  the  conventions  of  polite  society. 
Compelled  to  fight  for  life  it  fought  to  destroy 
its  adversary.  Intolerance  was  the  fruit  of  the 
contest  between  religion  and  irreligion  where  the 
stakes  were  life  and  death. 

The  pioneer  outran  education  also  in  his  move- 
ment to  the  West,  but  this  was  not  a  serious 
matter.  The  English  organization  of  society  had 
long  taken  it  for  granted  that  the  church  was  the 
means  of  education  for  the  masses.  In  the  south- 
ern states,  from  which  the  mass  of  Illinois'  earlier 
population  was  drawn,  there  were  no  public  school 
systems,  and  a  large  proportion  of  emigrants  to 
the  state  were  illiterate.  The  western  states,  how- 
ever, were  accorded  one  section  in  each  township 
in  their  bounds  for  local  schools;  and  in  addition 
Illinois  had  a  percentage  from  government  land 
sales  and  a  township  of  land  for  a  seminary.  Her 
pioneers  came  with  divers  opinions  on  the  subject 
of  the  employment  of  this  endowment.  Some  be- 
lieved the  lands  should  be  sold  at  once  that  the 
present  generation  might  be  educated.  Others 
thought  they  should  be  held  as  a  great  fund  for 
the  future.  Southerners  were  averse  to  taxing 
rich  men  to  educate  poor  men's  sons,  and  only 
gradually  as  the  northern  elements  came  in  was 


The  Frontier  139 


school  taxation  established.  A  law  of  1825  allow- 
ing localities  to  lay  school  taxes  was  repealed. 
Another  such  was  not  passed  till  1845.  The  state 
appropriated  the  three  per  cent  fund  for  other 
uses,  paying  interest  on  it  to  the  schools;  local 
land  grants  were  rented  and  the  rents  used  for 
local  schools. 

The  earliest  schools  were  most  casual  affairs. 
They  were  kept  by  drunkards,  by  men  with  the 
barest  smattering  of  knowledge,  unfitted  for  other 
purposes  by  physical  or  moral  defects.  Pupils 
studied  whatever  text  books  their  families  pos- 
sessed and  were  taught  out  of  them  by  primitive 
and  brutal  methods  in  which  flogging  played  an 
important  part.  Schoolmasters  ruled  only  by 
superior  force.  The  barring  out  was  a  favorite 
custom,  the  pupils  some  day  attempting  to  keep 
the  master  out  until  he  capitulated  and  provided  a 
treat  in  which  whisky  played  an  important  part. 

In  the  late  thirties,  however,  teachers  began  to 
be  paid  from  local  and  state  funds  according  to 
the  number  of  their  pupils  and  the  number  of  days 
they  attended  school.  The  grade  of  teachers  im- 
proved; young  men  on  their  way  through  college 
to  a  career  in  law  or  politics  would  teach  school 
to  gtt  a  start.  By  the  forties  thinking  men  were 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  necessity  of  an  organ- 
ized and  standardized  system,  and  around  the 
new  office  of  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 


14°  The  Story  of  Illinois 

one  began  to  be  evolved.  The  newspapers  began 
to  discuss  educational  systems,  the  Prussian,  the 
New  England. 

Higher  education  from  the  earliest  years  of 
statehood  had  been  available  for  those  able  to  pay 
for  it.  Peck's  Rock  Spring  Seminary  was  soon 
duplicated  by  many  another  high  school  teaching 
more  or  less  successfully  Latin  and  other  academic 
subjects.  Select  girl  schools  began  to  develop 
both  in  Illinois  and  across  the  river  in  Missouri. 
Above  all  rose  the  college. 

College  education  came  primarily  from  the 
churches'  realization  of  the  need  of  college  trained 
ministers.  Colleges  were  at  first  definitely  denom- 
inational; the  Illinois  legislature,  suspicious  of  re- 
ligious connection  with  politics,  refused  for  a  time 
to  incorporate  theological  institutions  to  grant 
degrees.  In  the  thirties  Shurtleff  for  the  Baptists, 
the  outgrowth  of  Peck's  seminary,  McKendree 
for  the  Methodists,  Knox  and  Blackburn  for  the 
Presbyterians  all  developed.  Before  either  of 
these  came  Illinois  College,  the  fruit  of  the  am- 
bition of  a  group  of  Yale  men  —  Theron  Bald- 
win, Edward  Beecher,  Julian  M.  Sturtevant,  Jona- 
than B.  Turner  —  to  build  a  greater  Yale  on  the 
Illinois  prairies.  Their  college  they  had  designed 
as  the  center  of  a  great  educational  system;  as 
such  their  dream  was  never  realized. 

Newspapers  one  naturally  includes  among  in- 


• 


The  Frontier  14* 


tellectual  forces;  but  the  newspapers  of  the  twen- 
ties were  comparatively  slight  and  unimportant; 
by  the  end  of  the  decade  they  hardly  exceeded  a 
dozen  in  number,  each  with  but  a  few  hundreds  of 
circulation.  They  were  small  weekly  sheets  of 
four  pages  mostly  filled  with  advertisements  and 
official  publications,  laws,  etc.  Their  remaining 
space  was  taken  up  with  news  anecdotes,  and 
scientific  scraps  clipped  from  eastern  papers,  with 
occasional  "  communications "  by  local  talent, 
literary,  political,  satirical  in  prose  and  verse  of 
no  very  high  order.  So  far  as  the  editors  had  any 
policy  it  was  dictated  by  the  factional  leaders 
whose  henchmen  they  were,  and  revealed  itself  in 
feeble  attacks  on  chiefs  of  the  rival  factions. 
Save  for  James  Hall,  at  one  time  editor  of  the 
Illinois  Gazette,  none  of  the  pioneer  editors 
showed  even  mediocre  literary  ability.  The  in- 
fluence of  their  papers  was  correspondingly  slight. 
The  awakened  democracy  of  the  thirties  and 
forties  gave  life  to  the  newspapers.  Enlarged  in 
size,  with  editors  if  not  able  at  least  vigorous,  con- 
tending with  each  other  on  measures  of  state  and 
questions  of  principle,  they  reflect  the  life  and 
thought  of  their  time  as  the  artificial  little  papers 
of  the  decade  of  1820  do  not. 

Government  in  the  primitive  commonwealth 
was  a  simple  affair.  The  state  government  was 
no  more   than  a  legislature  meeting  biennially* 


I42  The  Story  of  Illinois 

three  or  four  administrative  officials  doing  their 
work  at  first  almost  without  clerks,  and  a  supreme 
court.  Local  government  was  essentially  county 
government  —  County  Commissioners  Courts  to 
manage  local  finances,  circuit  and  probate  courts, 
and  justices  of  the  peace  to  judge  locally,  and 
sheriffs  to  maintain  order.  Roads  in  theory  were 
created  by  action  of  the  General  Assembly  or  of 
the  County  Commissioners  and  maintained  by  a 
labor  tax;  in  practice  they  were  usually  bottom- 
less seas  of  mud  till  the  twentieth  century.  Town 
governments  for  many  years  after  1 8 1 8  were  rudi- 
mentary. Police  forces  were  nonexistent.  The 
only  laws  that  could  be  enforced  were  laws  the 
local  community  would  enforce  itself.  When 
public  opinion  was  slack,  bands  of  robbers  on 
rivers  or  prairie  robbed  and  terrorized  at  will 
till  the  community  was  roused  to  the  point  of  sup- 
pressing them  by  main  force. 

The  social  life  of  the  frontier  can  be  described 
more  voluminously  than  accurately.  Recollec- 
tions of  such  merry-makings  as  the  corn-husking, 
the  log  rolling,  the  cabin  raising,  abound;  but 
contemporary  descriptions  and  allusions  are  in- 
frequent; in  the  contemporary  newspapers  they 
are  scarcely  mentioned;  one  wonders  whether 
reminiscence,  enforced  by  the  earlier  published  ac- 
counts of  frontier  life,  did  not  assign  them  undue 
importance,  or  a  general  one  instead  of  one  con- 


The  Frontier  143 


fined  to  certain  localities  and  periods  of  the  fron- 
tier movement.  At  all  events  they  are  depicted  for 
us  as  meeting  places,  evidences  of  neighborly  help- 
fulness, concluded  by  jollity,  dancing  and  whisky. 
The  wedding  celebration  and  the  dance  offered 
additional  opportunity  for  frontier  merry-making. 
They  were  marked,  one  judges,  often  enough  by 
coarseness,  but  rarely  by  anything  worse ;  but  the 
Methodists  labored  to  substitute  for  them  the 
emotional  joys  of  religion. 

Certain  other  opportunities  for  meeting  were 
afforded  by  official  duties.  The  periodical  meet- 
ing of  the  circuit  courts  called  into  the  county  seats 
suitors  and  jurymen,  who  learned  the  news  of  the 
outside  world  from  the  judge  and  lawyers  riding 
the  circuit,  were  regaled  with  speeches  by  political 
aspirants,  and  sat  down  to  dinner  in  the  local 
tavern  all  at  the  same  table.  The  periodical 
musters  and  trainings  of  the  militia  offered  other 
opportunities  for  escaping  the  loneliness  of  fron- 
tier life ;  but  by  the  forties  the  militia  had  become 
a  mere  source  of  military  titles. 

The  conquest  of  the  frontier  and  the  clearing 
of  the  land  took  its  tolls  in  health  and  life  alike. 
As  forest  was  cleared  away  or  prairie  sod  broken, 
vast  masses  of  decaying  vegetable  matter  were 
exposed  to  the  sun — underbrush,  decaying  logs, 
the  debris  of  centuries,  from  these  and  from  the 
stagnant  pools  and  swamps  came  wasting  diseases. 


144  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Intermittent  fever  and  ague  wrecked  the  health 
of  strong  men ;  and  women  and  children  succumbed 
pitifully  to  hardships  and  disease.  The  genera- 
tion that  began  the  founding  of  Illinois  was  a 
stalwart  one.  The  men  of  the  second  generation 
were  connoisseurs  in  ill  health  and  medicines. 
Calomel  and  whisky  was  the  most  common  dose; 
but  the  newspapers  were  filled  with  glowing  adver- 
tisements of  elixirs  and  patent  medicines  war- 
ranted to  cure  all  known  ills  from  tuberculosis  to 
warts.  Ill  health  in  the  forties  and  fifties  became 
fashionable  in  the  United  States;  the  pale  and 
sickly  interesting  young  man,  the  fragile  girl  dy- 
ing of  consumption  are  the  romantic  figures  of 
the  period. 

The  gloom  of  sickness  and  death  hung  over  the 
lives  of  the  people.  They  did  not  know  the  cheer- 
ful light-hearted  merriment  of  the  French  peas- 
ant :  Their  wit  was  keen,  their  humor  boisterous, 
their  laugh  a  guffaw  put  on  over  sickness  and 
gloom.  The  man  typical  of  the  wit  of  the  fron- 
tier at  times  masked  with  a  seemingly  inexhaustible 
fund  of  droll  stories  a  gloom  that  made  him  fear 
to  carry  any  weapon  with  which  he  might  attempt 
his  life.  A  literary  master  has  hit  off  the  spirit 
of  the  Illinois  of  the  pioneer  period  in  the  phrase, 
"  a  valley  of  shadows." 

But  mingled  with  the  gloom  there  was  a  great 
and   inordinate   pride.      The   conquerors   of  the 


The  Frontier  145 


wilderness  were  their  own  men.  The  same  im- 
pulse had  moved  them  to  the  West,  that  restless 
spirit  of  adventure,  the  search  for  better  things 
beyond  the  horizon;  but  they  had  obeyed  it  as 
individuals.  They  needed  not  to  bow  their  heads 
to  any  man  for  meat.  So  long  as  the  wilderness 
stretched  before  them  and  their  hearts  were  whole 
to  attempt  it,  they  need  be  no  man's  servants. 
They  obeyed  no  laws  save  those  the  community 
public  opinion  enforced  by  the  threat  of  lynch  law. 
They  cringed  to  no  public  official.  They  were 
not  like  the  peasantries  of  Europe,  humble  in  the 
mighty  presence  of  the  land,  that  great  mother 
that  for  twenty  generations  had  moulded  them  in 
her  bosom.  The  wilderness  to  the  American 
pioneer  was  no  mother,  but  a  terrible  foe;  yet 
one  that  encountered  with  fire,  axe,  a  brain  and  a 
stout  heart  could  be  transmuted  into  a  little  corn- 
field, a  farm  and  a  home.  Man  knew  that  if  he 
would  he  might  be  greater  than  his  environment 
and  remake  it  to  his  use ;  and  the  thought  ennobled 
him. 

The  pride  of  the  frontier  becomes  most  visible 
when  it  takes  the  form  of  patriotism.  Even  the 
most  ignorant  rejoiced  in  the  heritage  of  freedom 
given  him  in  trust  for  the  world's  benefit  and 
looked  down  with  contempt  on  the  slaves  of  des- 
potic government  in  Europe.  He  was  firmly  con- 
vinced  that   his   military   powers   as   a    freeman 


146  The  Story  of  Illinois 

could  bid  defiance  to  the  world.  Angered  at  the 
thought  of  the  galling  defeats  of  the  War  of  18 12 
that  seemed  to  contradict  his  heroism,  he  was 
prone  to  ascribe  them  not  to  his  undisciplined  law- 
lessness in  the  day  of  battle,  but  to  his  feeble  and 
intriguing  leaders  at  Washington.  His  eye  turned 
more  and  more  to  the  figure  of  one  man;  a  back- 
woodsman violent,  irascible,  chivalrous  to  women 
beyond  the  chivalry  of  romance,  true  to  a  friend, 
stern  to  a  mortal  foe,  a  man  who  accomplished 
what  he  set  out  to  accomplish  whether  it  was 
bringing  a  mutinous  army  to  subjection  by  sheer 
will  power,  crushing  hostile  Indian  nations,  sav- 
ing the  outlet  of  the  Great  Valley  from  the  in- 
vader, or  teaching  a  foreign  power  it  could  not 
afford  immunity  to  the  violators  of  American  soil. 
Winged  by  the  news  of  the  great  victory  at  New 
Orleans,  there  drifted  over  the  whole  west  the 
report  of  a  character  inaccurate  in  details  but 
true  in  essentials,  the  very  incarnation  of  the  fron- 
tier—  Andrew  Jackson. 


CHAPTER  VII 

JACKSONIAN  DEMOCRACY 

THE  first  quarter  century  after  the  admission 
of  Illinois  to  the  union  saw  a  revolution  in 
the  nation's  political  life.  The  people  of  the 
United  States  as  a  political  entity  came  into  being 
and  consciousness.  Tired  of  having  their  presi- 
dent selected  for  them  by  conclaves  of  congress- 
men in  caucus  at  Washington,  they  democratized 
party  machinery  to  nominate  and  elect  him  them- 
selves; they  devised  the  democratic  organization 
of  nationally  organized  political  parties  to  support 
him  in  carrying  out  the  will  of  the  people  in  office. 
In  the  political  history  of  that  quarter  century, 
the  outstanding  figure  is  the  man  who  instinctively 
grasped  the  direction  in  which  the  spirit  of  the 
times  was  turning  and  who  as  president  made 
himself  the  incarnation  of  the  people's  will  — 
Andrew  Jackson.  No  Illinois  citizen  was  so  vital 
an  element  in  the  Illinois  of  his  day  as  he. 

When  first  a  candidate  for  president  in  1824 
Jackson  was  fifty-seven ;  at  the  time  he  retired  from 
office  he  was  sixty-nine.  As  a  mere  boy  the  savag- 
ery of  the  revolution  in  the  Carolina  up-country 
in  which  he  had  taken  an  active  part  and  had 

147 


148  'The  Story  of  Illinois 

lost  by  untimely  death  his  whole  family  made  him 
a  good  hater;  twenty-five  years  in  Nashville  on 
the  frontier  of  Tennessee  had  made  him  more 
western  than  the  West  itself,  the  truest  of  friends, 
the  fiercest  of  foes,  duellist,  horse  racer,  cock 
fighter,  Indian  hater,  hero  of  hair  breadth  escapes 
that  related  in  sober  truth  sound  like  the  episodes 
of  a  dime  novel.  Nature  had  made  him  a  leader 
among  leaders,  a  man  who  in  the  War  of  1812 
led  armies  of  lawless  frontiersmen  trained  to  obey 
only  such  orders  as  they  liked,  ruling  them  by 
sheer  force  of  will;  a  general  who  won  such  vic- 
tories as  that  of  New  Orleans  by  the  light  of 
natural  military  genius;  a  man  whose  spirit  burned 
like  fire  and  was  not  consumed.  That  figure 
would  have  been  a  significant  one  wherever  placed 
in  the  world's  history;  in  the  America  of  18 15  it 
was  the  apotheosis  of  the  frontier. 

The  politics  of  the  United  States  of  the  early 
nineteenth  century  were  not  organized  to  promote 
the  elevation  of  such  a  figure  to  the  presidency. 
It  was  traditional  that  the  nomination  of  presi- 
dential candidates  lay  with  the  leaders  of  the 
parties.  Since  1796  the  candidate  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  for  the  presidency  had  been  designated 
by  the  Republican  members  of  Congress  meeting 
in  caucus  at  Washington.  From  1800  to  1824 
the  nomination  of  the  Republican  caucus  had  been 
equivalent  to  election.     Men  justified  the  system 


Jacksonian  Democracy  149 

by  saying  that  only  so  could  the  party  be  united 
on  a  candidate;  that  otherwise  candidates  would 
spring  up  in  the  various  states  and  sections  of  the 
nation,  no  man  could  have  a  majority  of  the  elec- 
toral votes,  and  the  House  of  Representatives 
voting  by  states  would  have  to  choose  among  the 
highest.  In  caucus  or  in  the  House  Congress 
must  choose  the  president;  and  its  choice  fell 
naturally  on  the  political  leaders  it  knew;  men 
from  their  youth  up  expert  in  politics  and  state- 
craft. 

For  twenty  years  the  United  States  had  ac- 
quiesced in  this  arrangement.  But  transportation 
was  improving;  men  were  traveling  from  state  to 
state  more  than  formerly;  the  age  of  national 
conventions  was  on  the  horizon.  The  western 
states  were  entering  the  Union  with  constitutional 
provision  for  manhood  suffrage.  The  older 
states  were  casting  aside  the  property  qualifica- 
tions for  the  ballot  that  had  survived  the  Revolu- 
tion. In  state  after  state  the  system  of  choosing 
presidential  electors  by  the  state  legislature  was 
being  abandoned,  and  their  choice  by  popular 
vote  substituted.  The  nation,  retrieved  to  a  new 
life  by  the  favorable  termination  of  the  War  of 
1 8 12  felt  itself  conscious  of  a  new  unity  and  a 
new  strength,  of  freedom  from  the  chariot  wheels 
of  European  politics,  freedom  on  the  broad  con- 
tinent that  stretched  to  the  west  to  work  out  its 


150  The  Story  of  Illinois 

own  destiny.     The  people  reached  out  for  the 
tools  of  democracy  and  began  to  prove  them. 

The  presidential  election  of  1824  was  the  first 
opportunity  for  their  national  use.  When  Mon- 
roe had  been  elected  president  in  181 6,  everyone 
had  taken  his  reelection  in  1820  as  an  accom- 
plished fact;  and  almost  disregarding  the  aged 
president,  half  a  dozen  younger  men  of  ambition 
stretched  out  their  hands  toward  the  prize  of 
1824.  There  was  John  Quincy  Adams  of  Massa- 
chusetts, secretary  of  state,  a  liberal  and  a  for- 
ward looking  man;  secretary  of  war  John  C.  Cal- 
houn of  South  Carolina,  still  a  nationalist;  Wil- 
liam H.  Crawford  of  Georgia,  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  representative  of  the  old  strict  con- 
structionist Republicans.  These  men  had  their 
eye  on  the  honor  and  were  on  the  ground  at 
Washington  to  pursue  it;  and  they  disregarded 
such  competitors  from  the  outside  as  De  Witt 
Clinton,  maker  of  New  York's  Erie  Canal,  but 
not  on  good  terms  with  Martin  Van  Buren  and 
the  state  machine,  or  General  Andrew  Jackson. 
The  popular  appeal  of  Jackson  all  of  them  at  first 
disregarded.  But  the  attempt  in  Congress  and 
the  Cabinet  to  censure  him  because,  set  to  stop 
the  raids  of  the  Seminoles  on  the  United  States 
from  Spanish  Florida,  he  had  done  it  in  his  own 
way  without  regard  to  the  letter  of  his  orders,  the 
immunity  of  British  subjects,  or  the  amour  propre 


Jacksonian  Democracy  151 

of  Spanish  officials,  had  disclosed  the  fact  that 
very  many  of  his  fellow  countrymen  admired  him 
intensely  for  these  very  headstrong  acts.  He 
stood  forth,  after  his  vindication  by  Congress  as 
a  national  candidate  for  the  presidency. 

"And  for  our  next  President,"  wrote  Patchett 
of  Pittsburg  to  his  friend  James  Hall  in  Illinois  in 
1823,  "General  Andw-  Jackson  has  the  full  &  free 
voice  of  the  Citizens  of  Pennsylvania.  We  some- 
time since  had  a  meeting  in  the  Courthouse  where 
about  800  of  the  citizens  were  present;  the  names 
of  the  several  candidates  were  placed  on  the  nomi- 
nation list.  Calhoun  was  first  balloted  for,  &  had 
four  or  five  votes;  Clay  next  had  five,  Adams  six; 
Crawford  one;  Clinton  twelve,  or  upwards; 
Jackson  was  finally  brought  forth,  and  in  a  voice 
of  thunder  the  Courthouse  rung,  for  the  Hero 
of  New  Orleans.  Jimmy  my  son,  you  have  been 
an  officer  in  the  last  war,  your  sword  was  then 
drawn  in  defence  of  your  Country — and  now  let 
you  your  pen  in  time's  of  peace  be  wielded  in  vin- 
dicating the  just  claims  of  your  old  General,  as 
old  Hickory  is  the  best  hoop  for  national  Safety. 

"  But  still  I  am  well  aware  —  there  will  be  many 
objections  setup  against  General  Jackson,  both  by 
the  Governmental  Editors,  and  the  office  holders ; 
1st  because  he  hath  not  been  schooled,  educated 
and  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel,  in  the 
Presidential  Academy  in  the  City  of  Washington; 
2d  Because  he  hath  never  drank  deep  that  foun- 
tain of  Political  intrigue  &  corruption,  and  were 
he  elected  President  might  take  away  the  Loaves 


i^2  The  Story  of  Illinois 


and  the  fishes  from  Bladensburgh  cowards,  and 
feed  the  poor  starving  officers  &  soldiers  who 
fough[t]  our  battles  during  the  last  war  at  New 
Orleans  3d  Because  he  is  a  man  of  prompt,  ener- 
getic mind  and  would  as  soon  put  a  rascal  to 
death  as  he  would  an  Indian  or  an  Ambrister,  4th 
objection,  altho'  he  has  made  the  best  General  in 
the  known  world,  yet  we  are  afraid  to  trust  him 
for  our  President,  yet  the  people  may  answer  — 
Washington  was  the  greatest  General  in  the 
world,  and  made  the  best  President;  never  the 
less  we  can  gull  the  ignorant,  and  palm  a  coward 
on  them,  for  what  right  have  the  swinish  multi- 
tude to  interfere  in  making  a  President.  It  shall 
be  done  by  Legislative  Caucus,  according  to  law, 
5th  &  last  great  objection  He  might  do  us  a  great 
deal  of  injury  as  he  is  so  fond  of  fighting,  who 
knows  but  what  he  might  declare  war  against  the 
world  and  bring  down  the  vengeance  of  the 
allied  Sovereigns  on  our  heads;  and  to  a  moral 
certainty  he  would  disperse  our  political  nest  at 
Washington  City,  break  up  our  Presidential 
Academy,  where  the  great  Crawford,  Clay,  Cal- 
houn &  Adams  have  received  that  omnipotent  nos- 
trum, of  political  slang.  Thus  Jimmy  my  son, 
you  must  be  prepared  to  ward  off  the  blows,  for 
all  these  obstructions  and  a  great  many  more  will 
be  cast  in  the  way  of  the  worthy  Chieftain  to  the 
Presidential  chair;  but  let  us  go  to  work  like  true 
Pioneers  and  clear  off  the  rubbish  —  we  will  have 
a  host  on  our  side,  we  will  have  all  the  true 
Soldiers  and  all  who  are  true  and  faithful  free- 
men to  rally  round  the  standard  of  Jackson  and 
Liberty,  as  none  but  trembling  cowards  —  office 


Jacksonian  Democracy  153 

holders  and  office  hunters  will  vote  against  him. 
But  where  Jackson  was,  let  a  grateful 
nation  answer  by  their  votes  at  our  next  Presi- 
dential Election,  for  he  hath  earned  them  at  the 
mouth  of  a  British  Cannon."  x 

The  nomination  of  Crawford  by  the  Congres- 
sional caucus  was  a  foregone  conclusion.  The 
friends  of  the  other  candidates  at  once  began  an 
outcry  against  caucus  nominations  that  found  a 
popular  response.  In  one  way  or  another  the 
candidates  were  got  before  the  people  and  a  real 
campaign  was  on.  Illinois  had  cast  in  1820  but 
1443  votes  for  her  electors  to  go  through  the 
empty  form  of  voting  for  Monroe;  now  she  could 
choose  between  three  or  four  candidates.  After 
hot  contests  in  her  districts  she  chose  two  Jackson 
electors  and  one  Adams  elector.  The  result  in 
the  nation  was  to  give  no  candidate  a  majority, 
and  to  send  Jackson  with  99  votes,  Adams  with 
84  votes,  and  Crawford  with  41  votes  to  be  voted 
on  by  the  House  of  Representatives  voting  by 
states. 

There  Illinois  was  ro  play  a  great  part.  In 
the  House  the  sole  representative  of  Illinois, 
Daniel  Pope  Cook,  could  cast  a  vote  as  potent  as 
that  of  the  whole  delegations  of  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania or  Virginia.  The  local  factions  in  Illi- 
nois politics  had  not  divided  on  the  presidency. 

1  Eddy  Manuscripts,  University  of  Illinois. 


154  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Cook  was  left  to  estimate  from  the  vote  for  the 
electors  throughout  the  state  which  candidate  had 
the  plurality  in  the  state's  choice.  If  one  elector 
run  under  the  "Jackson  or  Clay"  label  was 
counted  for  Jackson,  Jackson  would  have  the 
plurality.  Were  he  counted  for  Crawford,  the 
probable  source  of  his  vote,  Adams  would  have 
it.1  Cook  was  persuaded  by  his  own  partiality  to 
Adams  to  decide  in  his  favor,  and  cast  the  vote 
of  Illinois  to  elect  him. 

The  charge,  probably  false,  broke  forth 
throughout  Illinois  and  the  nation  as  well,  that 
Adams  was  elected  by  a  corrupt  bargain  in  which 
Clay  bribed  by  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State 
had  swung  his  strength  to  elect  Adams.  It  stirred 
up  a  deep  feeling  of  moral  indignation,  that  the  old 
soldier,  the  hero  of  New  Orleans,  the  first  choice 
of  the  people  for  the  presidency  was  pushed  aside 
for  a  politician  and  closet  statesman.  That  indig- 
nation did  not  die  away,  but  grew  deeper  and 
deeper  during  Adams'  ill-starred  term.  It  was 
fanned  by  politicians,  especially  those  of  the 
Crawford  following  who  in  Illinois  and  elsewhere 
when  their  chief  withdrew  from  politics,  went 
over  to  Jackson.  It  was  given  validity  by  the 
fact  that  the  alliance  of  West  and  South  on  the 
basis  of  free  trade,  no  internal  improvements,  a 
liberal  public  land  policy,  and  a  white  man's  In- 

1  See  table,  p.  369. 


Jacksonian  Democracy  155 

dian  policy,  naturally  cemented  itself  around  a 
man  like  Jackson  both  Western  and  Southern. 
But  when  all  is  said  it  was  deep  anger  that  the 
people's  will  had  been  disregarded  by  the  people's 
servants  that  gave  Jackson  the  vote  of  Illinois  in 
1828  two  to  one  and  swept  the  Old  Hero  into  the 
presidential  chair  on  the  first  of  American  land- 
slides. The  elder  statesmen  might  well  shake 
their  heads  and  repeat  the  axiom  that  a  president 
chosen  by  a  great  popular  majority  would  be  a 
dangerous  one.  Such  a  one  had  been  called  by 
the  people  and  he  knew  his  call. 

The  Jackson  enthusiasm  in  Illinois  was 
destined  to  destroy  the  older  factional  politics. 
Probably  it  was  discontent  with  his  factional  affil- 
iations, rather  than  with  Cook's  vote  for  Adams 
that  caused  his  defeat  for  Congress  in  1826;  but 
three  years  later  politicians  looking  back  in  the 
light  of  Jackson's  meteoric  course  in  Illinois 
naturally  ascribed  it  to  Cook's  defiance  of  the 
people's  will.  Sensing  the  fact  that  the  day  of 
factional  politics  was  past,  the  Crawford  element 
in  the  anti-Edwards  following  became  Jacksonian, 
and  more  exuberantly  Jacksonian  than  the  Jack- 
sonians  of  1824.  After  1828  no  man  might  be 
elected  to  an  office  by  the  general  vote  of  Illinois 
unless  he  professed  himself  a  supporter  of  Jack- 
son. Ninian  Edwards  hesitated  between  Jackson 
and  the  Adams-Clay  group,  clinging  to  both.    He 


156  The  Story  of  Illinois 

sought  the  support  of  Adams  men  to  stay  up  his 
disintegrating  personal  faction,  and  on  that  ac- 
count was  condemned  by  Jackson  and  his  support- 
ers whose  ear  at  Washington  former  Crawford 
men  like  Kane  and  Kinney  had  obtained.  True, 
John  Reynolds,  professing  to  be  a  good  Jackson 
man  and  at  the  same  time  quietly  bargaining  for 
Adams  votes  that  could  be  delivered  unobtrusive- 
ly, with  Edwards'  support  slipped  into  the  gover- 
norship in  1830,  defeating  the  " whole  hog" 
Jackson  candidate,  William  Kinney.  Again  in 
1834  Reynolds  was  elected  to  Congress  by  Adams 
votes.  But  this  time  he  promptly  repudiated  his 
Adams  following  as  soon  as  elected  and  thence- 
forth marched  under  the  Jackson  banner  only. 

The  rise  to  prominence  of  men  like  Kinney  and 
Reynolds  is  in  itself  an  indication  of  the  demo- 
cratic revolution  in  politics.  Both  had  arisen 
from  the  ranks  of  Illinois  frontiersmen.  William 
Kinney  was  a  storekeeper,  a  Baptist  preacher  by 
avocation,  so  far  illiterate  that  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  disentangle  the  sense  of  his  letters 
from  the  handwriting,  spelling  and  grammar  in 
which  they  are  couched.  He  was  nevertheless  an 
outspoken  man  of  keen  mother  wit  always  ex- 
pressing itself  in  homely  epigrams.  John  Reyn- 
olds, in  later  years  the  historian  of  pioneer  Illinois 
in  volumes  that  are  literary  curiosities  had 
a   smattering  of  education  which  he  strove   to 


Jacksonian  Democracy  157 

stretch  to  the  appearance  of  erudition.  Always 
an  office  seeker,  always  searching  for  the  popular 
side  of  every  issue,  fawning  on  his  friends  when 
he  needed  them  and  discarding  them  when  they 
could  no  longer  serve  him,  he  shuffled  his  way 
through  Illinois  politics  from  1 8 1 8  to  the  days  of 
the  Civil  War.  That  such  a  man  could  become 
governor  and  congressman  is  proof  that  the  day 
of  aristocratic  dignity  in  Illinois  politics  had 
passed. 

The  years  from  1828  until  1834  when  the 
democratic  and  whig  parties  fully  separate  out 
of  the  amorphous  political  mass  are  years  of  con- 
fusion. To  begin  with  the  Jackson  movement  of 
1828  had  been  one  mainly  of  sentiment  and  per- 
sonal attraction.  But  Jackson's  political  ideas 
developed  fast  after  his  election.  They  de- 
veloped on  such  questions  as  internal  improve- 
ments and  tariff  in  the  direction  of  the  limited 
construction  of  the  powers  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment that  had  characterized  the  republicans  of 
1798  and  the  former  Crawford  men.  When  in 
1832  the  issue  of  the  recharter  of  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States  was  forced  on  Jackson  by  the 
Clay-Adams  group,  he  seized  on  it  to  rally  his 
western  and  southern  constituencies  "where  hatred 
of  banks  and  above  all  of  the  Bank  was  rife.  He 
vetoed  the  renewal  of  the  Bank's  charter,  and, 
succeeding  in  the  presidential  election  of  1832, 


158  The  Story  of  Illinois 

withdrew  the  government's  funds  from  the  "  mon- 
ster "  and  put  them  in  the  hands  of  the  state  banks. 
Moreover,  his  removals  from  office  hardly  coin- 
cided with  his  non-partisan  and  reform  attitude 
of  1 817  and  1823.  In  all  these  directions  his 
policy  alienated  in  Illinois  and  elsewhere  many 
men  who  had  been  his  ardent  followers  in  1824 
and  1828. 

As  a  result  there  was  from  1830  to  1834  a 
steady  secession  of  Jackson  men  to  the  ranks  of 
the  Clay-Adams  opposition;  and  many  men  who 
continued  to  call  themselves  Jackson  men  and  to 
run  for  office  as  Jackson  men  opposed  again  and 
again  the  Jackson  measures  in  Congress.  For 
instance,  Joseph  Duncan,  sole  Congressman 
from  Illinois  from  1826  to  1833  did  this  until 
1834.  Then  he  ran  for  governor  of  the  state 
against  a  field  of  William  Kinney  and  Robert  K. 
McLaughlin,  out  and  out  Jackson  men,  and  James 
Adams,  whig.  Duncan  did  not  repudiate  the 
Jackson  name  until  after  the  canvass,  and  was 
easily  elected.  In  that  same  year  six  candidates 
opposed  each  other  in  the  three  congressional  dis- 
tricts of  the  state,  all  six  declaring  themselves 
Jackson  men,  but  some  of  them  endorsing  a 
United  States  Bank. 

In  order  to  strip  malcontent  Jacksonians  of  the 
party  name  and  force  them  to  support  the  meas- 
ures of  the  party  or  to  leave  it,  the  democratic 


Jacksonian  Democracy  159 

party  was  formed  in  Illinois  between  1834-36,  its 
party  chiefs  evolving  the  ideas  of  party  regularity 
and  the  convention  system.  Briefly  stated,  these 
are  that  no  man  may  run  for  office  as  a  Jack- 
sonian or  a  democrat  —  a  term  one  may  at  length 
use  —  unless  he  supports  the  measures  of  Jackson 
as  set  forth  in  party  platforms.  In  order  to  se- 
cure the  election  of  loyal  democrats,  all  democrats 
must  give  up  the  former  right  of  appearing  as 
candidates  for  office  whenever  they  wish;  they 
must  submit  their  claims  to  conventions  held  in 
the  district  in  which  they  are  to  run,  and  must 
agree  to  support  loyally  the  candidate  chosen  by 
the  convention  as  the  party  standard  bearer. 
Otherwise  the  party  vote  may  be  divided,  and  the 
opposition  triumph. 

Over  the  party  machinery  thus  devised,  a  fierce 
controversy  waged  within  and  without  the  party. 
Resolutions  denouncing  the  convention  system 
were  introduced  in  the  Illinois  legislature  in  1835 
and  bitterly  contested.  On  one  side  it  was  alleged 
that  the  convention  system  was  democratic,  that 
it  enabled  the  poor  but  upright  young  man  of 
ability  to  run  for  office  with  united  party  support, 
and  deprived  the  man  of  prestige,  wealth  and 
social  position  of  the  advantage  those  gifts  would 
give  him  in  the  race  were  he  free  to  enter  when- 
ever he  saw  fit.  This  undoubtedly  was  one  reason 
why  men  of  this  latter  sort  gravitated  to  the 


160  The  Story  of  Illinois 

whig  party.  On  the  other  hand  conventions  were 
denounced  as  subject  to  fraud  and  manipulation, 
dens  in  which  wily  politicians  could  defeat  the 
will  of  the  voters;  no  doubt  too  often  was  this 
the  case. 

The  convention  system,  however,  adopted  in 
Illinois  some  years  after  the  Jackson  party  in 
both  Ohio  and  Indiana  had  adopted  it,  was  to 
have  a  rare  record  of  efficiency  in  the  state.  In 
1838  and  1842  it  enabled  the  democrats  to  sub- 
stitute one  candidate  for  another  in  the  midst  of 
the  race  for  the  governorship.  In  1838  their 
first  choice,  James  W.  Stephenson,  was  proved  a 
defaulter;  Thomas  Carlin  was  substituted  for  him 
and  elected  over  Cyrus  Edwards,  the  whig  candi- 
date, brother  of  Ninian  Edwards.  In  1842 
Adam  W.  Snyder  died  during  the  canvass  and 
Thomas  Ford  was  put  in  his  place  and  beat  hand- 
ily Governor  Duncan. 

The  system  had  its  real  test  in  the  democratic 
party  in  the  troublous  years  1 837-1 842.  Those 
years  began  with  the  great  panic  of  1837  caused 
by  inflation  of  credit  through  the  lavish  issue  of 
bank  notes  and  deposits  by  state  banks  enjoying 
government  deposits.  To  repair  the  evil  Van 
Buren,  now  President  of  the  United  States,  pro- 
posed the  sub-treasury  system:  the  divorce  of  the 
government  from  all  dealings  with  banks,  the  col* 
lection  of  government  dues  in  specie,  their  deposit 


£  3 

<  a 
U  .2 

S  a 


«■■« 


Jacksonian  Democracy  161 

in  strong  rooms  or  subtreasuries  under  care  of 
government  officials,  and  the  making  of  all  dis- 
bursements in  specie  likewise. 

It  was  only  after  a  desperate  struggle  that  the 
democratic  party  in  Illinois  was  brought  in  line 
for  this  policy.  The  senators,  R.  M.  Young  and 
John  M.  Robinson,  both  comparatively  obscure 
men,  were  in  favor  of  it.  All  three  congressmen, 
Zadoc  Casey,  from  the  Southeast,  Adam  W. 
Snyder  from  the  Southwest,  and  William  L. 
May  from  the  North  were  elected  as  democrats; 
all  three  opposed  the  subtreasury.  The  demo- 
cratic papers  of  the  state,  generally  in  favor  of 
the  measure,  declared  war  on  the  congressmen. 
Zadoc  Casey  was  in  a  district  where  the  democrats 
were  not  yet  in  favor  of  conventions;  his  personal 
popularity  secured  his  reelection  in  1838  and 
1 84 1.  Then  in  1843  in  a  redistricted  constituency 
he  was  badly  beaten.  But  Adam  W.  Snyder  was 
compelled  to  decline  a  reelection;  and  in  the 
northern  district  in  1838  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was 
substituted  for  May  as  the  democratic  candidate 
by  a  convention;  and  was  beaten  only  by  a  hair's 
breadth  by  John  T.  Stuart,  whig.  Douglas  in 
especial  prided  himself  on  his  share  in  introducing 
the  convention  in  Illinois  politics;  by  1843  lt  was 
in  full  use  by  the  democrats  throughout  the  state 
in  both  state  and  local  elections. 

Douglas'  rise  in  Illinois  politics  had  been  me- 


1 62  The  Story  of  Illinois 

teoric.  Born  in  Vermont  in  18 13,  he  had  come 
to  Illinois  penniless  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  had 
settled  in  Jacksonville.  He  attached  himself  to 
the  democratic  party  and  rose  from  office  to  office 

—  public  prosecutor  in  1835,  state  representative 
in  1836,  register  of  the  United  States  land  office 
at  Springfield  in  1837,  secretary  of  state  in  1840, 
judge  of  the  state  supreme  court  in  the  same  year, 
congressman  in  1843,  United  States  senator  from 
1847  t0  ms  death  in  186 1.  As  great  a  dema- 
gogue as  John  Reynolds  himself,  ability,  magnet- 
ism, frank  lack  of  scruple  in  political  methods, 
and  equally  frank  devotion  to  the  ideals  of  de- 
mocracy and  the  Union  made  him  the  worshiped 
leader  of  voters  who  had  speedily  fathomed  Rey- 
nold's shallow  cajoleries. 

The  whigs  were  slower  in  adopting  close  or- 
ganization. This  was  inevitable,  as  at  first  they 
were  in  considerable  degree  but  a  congeries  of 
elements  thrown  off  from  the  original  Jacksonian 
group  as  the  democratic  party  was  crystallizing 
out  of  it.  A  personal  grudge,  dislike  of  Jackson's 
Bank  policy,  of  his  removals  from  office,  of  his 
opposition  to  the  tariff  or  internal  improvements 

—  any  one  or  all  of  these  might  have  determined 
the  secession  of  a  man  or  a  group  from  the  Jack- 
son party.  In  1832  a  certain  group  had  tried  to 
run  electors  for  Jackson  and  R.  M.  Johnson  in- 
stead of  Jackson  and  Van  Buren.     Some  of  the 


Jacksonian  Democracy  163 

group  ended  as  undoubted  democrats,  some  as 
whigs;  and  besides  there  were  of  course  the  Anti- 
Masonic  and  Clay  tickets  supported  by  open  op- 
ponents of  Jackson.  In  1836  also  the  whig  policy 
was  divide  and  conquer.  In  Illinois  an  electoral 
ticket  was  run  pledged  to  vote  for  either  the 
liberal  William  Henry  Harrison  or  the  conserva- 
tive Hugh  White  for  president,  whichever  had 
the  better  chance;  and  apparently  the  elements 
supporting  the  two  candidates  were  not  in  perfect 
harmony. 

The  campaign  of  1840  is  illustrative  of  the 
same  tendency.  The  whigs  nationally  nominated 
the  liberal  William  Henry  Harrison  for  Presi- 
dent and  an  extreme  statesrights  man,  John  Tyler, 
for  Vice  President,  without  a  platform.  By  the 
use  of  frontier  symbols  and  appeals  to  mob  psy- 
chology they  sought  to  reawaken  for  their  candi- 
date the  genuine  enthusiasm  for  the  Jackson  of 
1828.  So  monster  mass  meetings  were  held,  at- 
tended by  thousands  of  people,  marching  by  dele- 
gations from  all  parts  of  the  state  to  Springfield, 
bringing  floats  of  log  cabins  with  coon  skins  nailed 
to  the  door,  latch  strings  out,  and  barrels  of  hard 
cider  at  the  door,  all  to  prove  that  Harrison  was 
a  man  of  the  frontier,  simple,  hospitable,  a  brave 
general,  charitable  to  old  soldiers.  A  sort  of 
feast  of  tabernacles,  it  was  as  though  commemo- 
rative of  the  hardships  of  the  pioneer  days  al- 


164  The  Story  of  Illinois 

ready  passing  away;  and  when  in  the  midst  of 
cities  of  the  East,  bankers,  merchants,  and  me- 
chanics met  around  log  cabins  to  pledge  each 
other  in  tin  mugs  of  hard  cider  they  sought  to  im- 
press on  men  that  the  golden  days  of  the  past 
with  their  imagined  simplicity  and  democracy 
would  return  with  the  election  of  Harrison. 

Harrison  swept  the  nation.  He  lost  Illinois  be- 
cause the  democratic  organization  was  too  strong; 
also  because  the  whigs  had  been  placed  in  the  po- 
sition of  seeming  to  deny  to  unnaturalized  aliens 
the  right  to  vote  in  state  elections.  Moreover,  in 
supporting  a  whig,  Alexander  P.  Field,  in  his  at- 
tempt to  hold  the  office  of  secretary  of  state 
against  Governor  Carlin's  attempt  to  remove  him, 
they  seemed  to  advocate  the  undemocratic  posi- 
tion of  unlimited  tenure  of  office.  The  rest  of 
the  nation,  for  all  the  fruits  of  their  victory  the 
whigs  were  destined  to  reap,  might  as  well  have 
followed  the  example  of  Illinois.  Harrison  died 
a  month  after  his  inauguration,  and  John  Tyler, 
bound  by  no  platform,  vetoed  the  Bank  Bills  and 
other  whig  measures.  Full  of  wrath  the  whigs 
deserted  Tyler,  save  a  few  like  Daniel  Webster, 
who  served  him  two  years  more  as  secretary  of 
state.  In  Illinois  as  elsewhere  Tyler's  strength 
was  but  a  "corporal's  guard"  recruited  from 
both  whigs  and  democrats,  plus  those  men  willing 
for  the  sake  of  offices  to  be  all  things  to  all  men. 


Jacksonian  Democracy  165 

Naturally  the  whigs  did  not  repeat  their  mis- 
take. In  1844  they  ran  undoubted  whig  candi- 
dates for  President  and  Vice  President  on  a  party 
platform.  But  many  of  the  Illinois  whigs  still 
shrank  from  adopting  in  state  politics  the  demo- 
cratic system  of  party  organization.  In  1842  no 
convention  to  nominate  a  whig  candidate  for  gov- 
ernor was  held;  the  party  newspapers  persuaded 
all  the  whigs  who  put  themselves  forward  except 
Joseph  Duncan  to  withdraw.  In  1846  it  was  seri- 
ously proposed  that  the  central  committee  nomi- 
nate the  candidates  for  state  offices,  as  in  effect 
had  been  done  in  1838;  and  the  convention  of 
1846  was  hardly  more  than  one  in  name.  In  a 
famous  manifesto  published  in  1843  Lincoln  with 
two  other  whigs  laid  to  the  lack  of  conventions 
the  defeat  of  the  party  in  the  elections  of  1842; 
in  answer  Governor  Duncan  preached  the  older 
whig  doctrine  of  the  iniquity  of  conventions. 

The  control  of  the  democratic  party  in  the 
state  after  1843  seemed  to  rest  in  the  six  demo- 
cratic congressmen  elected  in  that  year.  As  a  re- 
sult of  the  redistricting  of  1843  tne  whigs  could 
count  on  but  one  seat  in  Congress,  that  in  the 
seventh  or  central  district  contended  for  by  John 
J.  Hardin,  E.  D.  Baker,  and  Abraham  Lincoln, 
among  the  most  prominent  of  the  younger  whigs 
of  the  state.  The  six  democratic  congressmen, 
led  by  John  Wentworth  of  the  Chicago  district, 


*66  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  John  A.  McClernand, 
controlled  the  federal  patronage,  governed  the 
party  in  the  state,  elected  Douglas  senator,  and 
silenced  the  Illinois  State  Register  at  Springfield, 
the  state  Democratic  organ,  when  it  dared  raise 
its  voice  in  protest. 

The  opinions  and  characteristics  of  the  two 
parties  deserve  a  word  in  closing.  The  whigs  in 
national  politics  were  supporters  of  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States  and  after  1837  opposers  of  the 
sub-treasury;  they  were  favorers  of  protective 
tariff  and  internal  improvements  at  national  ex- 
pense. Their  public  land  policy  was  Clay's  dis- 
tribution bill,  and  they  had  to  prove  as  best  they 
might  that  the  doles  of  money  Illinois  would  re- 
ceive under  it  would  counter-balance  the  indefinite 
continuance  of  the  price  of  one  dollar  and  twenty- 
five  cents  per  acre.  More  generally  they  were  a 
party  of  the  middle  classes,  sentimental,  reading 
sentimental  papers,  appealing  to  sentiment  in  elec- 
tions as  in  1840.  Their  party  name  of  whig  re- 
called the  days  of  the  English  revolution  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  and  indi- 
cated their  stand  for  the  independence  of  the 
legislative  as  against  the  executive. 

The  whig  politician  of  Illinois  typical  of  the 
party  was  Orville  H.  Browning.  He  had  come 
to  Quincy  in  1831,  a  young  lawyer  educated  at 
Augusta  College,  Kentucky.     He  became  equally 


Jacksonian  Democracy  167 

famous  in  the  tax  title  litigation  so  important  in 
the  Military  Tract  and  in  defenses  of  criminals 
that  moved  jury  and  audience  to  tears.  As  a 
politician  he  was  a  skilled  debater,  a  suave  and 
'florid  orator,  but  a  man  with  a  personal  fastidi- 
ousness, elegance  and  self  conceit  that  contrasted 
with  the  democratic  exterior  affected  by  his  rivals, 
Douglas  and  Richardson.  In  his  later  years  he 
was  to  be  senator,  and  secretary  of  the  interior 
in  Johnson's  cabinet;  now  he  doubtless  considered 
himself  in  ability  and  in  grace  the  superior  of  his 
whig  associates,  Hardin,  Baker,  and  Lincoln. 

The  principles  of  the  democratic  party  began 
with  the  motto  which  Blair  set  at  the  head  of  the 
party  organ,  the  Washington  Globe,  u  The, world 
is  too  much  governed. "  Their  policy  was  strict 
construction  of  the  constitution  with  respect  to 
internal  improvements  and  the  chartering  of  cor- 
porations like  the  United  States  Bank.  At  the 
same  time  the  Illinois  that  had  applauded  Jack- 
son's vigorous  onset  on  nullification  by  South 
Carolina,  saw  nothing  in  strict  construction  incon- 
gruous with  the  most  outspoken  nationalism. 
That  the  government  of  the  United  States  was  a 
government  of  limited  powers  did  not  mean  that 
the  United  States  was  not  a  nation.  The  western 
democrats  sought  to  enforce  on  their  party  a 
public  land  policy  that  would  give  the  actual  set- 
tler his  choice  of  a  farm  at  a  nominal  charge  or 


1 68  The  Story  of  Illinois 

none  at  all.  Some  of  them  had  a  hankering  after 
national  internal  improvements  in  spite  of  the  de- 
clared party  policy  on  it.  The  more  radical  group 
in  the  democratic  party,  the  so-called  Locofoco 
element  in  New  York  City  and  the  great  masses 
of  the  party  in  Illinois  represented  by  John  Went- 
worth's  Chicago  Democrat  and  the  Illinois  State 
Register,  were  in  favor  of  human  rights  as  against 
property  rights.  East  and  west  as  time  went  on 
an  element  increasingly  apparent  opposed  all 
banks,  state  or  federal,  and  preached  an  agrarian 
democracy. 

In  the  democratic  party  thus  developed  in  the 
Illinois  of  the  middle  forties  the  democratic  ele- 
ments of  the  frontier  had  found  full  expression. 
The  one  ominous  thing  was  the  unnatural  alliance 
in  the  same  party  of  the  western  farmer,  believing 
in  the  dignity  of  labor  and  the  rights  of  man,  with 
the  great  mass  of  southern  slave  holders.  From 
the  middle  forties  the  democracy  of  northern  Illi- 
nois increasingly  chafed  against  the  predominance 
of  the  slavery  element  in  the  councils  of  the  party. 
The  wave  of  frontier  enthusiasm  for  Andrew 
Jackson  had  developed  into  a  party  of  demo- 
cratic name  and  in  part  of  democratic  ideals;  but 
as  the  increasing  importance  of  slavery  in  the 
lower  South  divided  that  section's  interests  from 
those  of  the  Northwest  a  fissure  on  the  surface  of 
the  party  became  more  and  more  apparent. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE     EXPANSION     OF     THE     FRONTIER     COMMON- 
WEALTH  I  83O-I  846 

THE  twenties  had  seen  the  population  of 
Illinois  overleap  the  inferior  lands  between 
the  Wabash  and  the  Mississippi  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  state  and  attain  the  rich  Sangamon 
River  country.  It  had  crossed  the  Illinois  River 
into  the  present  counties  of  Calhoun  and  Pike  and 
began  to  press  northward  in  the  military  tract. 
In  the  thirties  new  tides  of  population  pouring 
in  from  the  South  or  by  way  of  Chicago,  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  Erie  Canal  from  New  York 
and  New  England  were  to  flood  over  into  all  the 
country  north  and  west  of  the  Illinois  and  Kan- 
kakee Rivers.  By  individual  settlers,  by  colonies, 
the  flood  seeped  in.  Farms  and  towns  developed 
over  night.  Speculation  in  real  estate  ran  riot, 
and  men  began  to  dream  of  great  transportation 
systems  to  create  a  great  economic  empire  in  the 
valley;  their  dreams  for  the  moment  were  unat* 
tainable,  but  they  only  faintly  foreshadowed  the 
development  a  half  century  was  to  make  in 
northern  and  northwestern  Illinois. 

The  early  thirties  saw  the  disappearance  of  the 
169 


170  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Indians  from  the  prairies.  The  relics  of  the  Illi- 
nois, the  Kickapoo,  the  Shawnee  had  all  been  re- 
moved by  treaty  beyond  the  Mississippi.  The 
Winnebago  of  northern  Illinois  and  Wisconsin, 
responsible  for  the  little  flurry  of  1827  character- 
ized in  Illinois  history  as  the  Winnebago  War  fol- 
lowed in  1832,  after  the  Black  Hawk  War.  The 
Pottawattoniie  of  Lake  Michigan  made  their  last 
cession  in  the  state  at  Chicago  in  1833.  Two 
years  later  they  came  for  the  last  payments  on 
this  country  under  the  treaty;  as  they  held  their 
last  dance  on  their  old  assembly  ground  at  the 
Chicago  River  they  were  in  the  midst  of  the 
streets  of  the  new  village  of  Chicago.  Fort  Dear- 
born, garrisoned  two  years  longer,  was  swallowed 
up  by  1858  in  a  bustling  city.  Within  a  young 
man's  memory  the  modern  metropolis  had  re- 
placed the  frontier  trading  post. 

The  Sac  and  Foxes  who  still  dwelt  to  the  east 
of  the  Mississippi  were  not  easily  got  rid  of.  In 
1804  they  had  made  their  first  cession  good  or  bad 
at  St.  Louis;  the  Treaty  of  18 16  after  the  British 
desertion  of  the  Indians  had  compelled  them  to 
ratify  the  earlier  treaty.  A  group  from  the  two 
tribes  under  the  malcontent  war  chief,  Black 
Hawk,  adhered  still  to  the  British,  made  pilgrim- 
ages year  by  year  to  Maiden  for  the  presents  and 
advice  of  their  British  father  and  clung  to  their 
corn  fields  and  the  graves  of  their  ancestors  at 


Expansion  of  Frontier  Commonwealth*! i 

Rock  Island,  which  by  treaty  they  were  privileged 
to  occupy  until  it  should  be  sold  by  the  United 
States.  The  frontiersmen  could  not  wait  in  def- 
erence to  Indian  sentiment.  They  began  to  oc- 
cupy and  improve  the  site  of  Black  Hawk's  vil- 
lage. The  Indians  resented  it,  and,  forced  across 
the  Mississippi,  Black  Hawk  began  a  last,  piti- 
fully hopeless  war  against  the  white  men. 

For  a  time  in  1832  northwestern  Illinois  was 
kept  in  terror  by  Indian  raids  and  murders;  the 
incidents  of  frontier  Kentucky,  the  gathering  of 
settlers  in  blockhouses,  attacks  on  small  parties  of 
militia  were  repeated  from  time  to  time.  Black 
Hawk  was  soon  chased  into  the  unknown  wilder- 
ness of  southern  Wisconsin.  The  regular  infan- 
try of  the  United  States  army  was  at  a  disadvan- 
tage in  a  war  with  mobile  mounted  savages,  and 
the  mounted  militia  and  volunteers  mustered  from 
Illinois  and  from  Wisconsin  Territory  were  a  bet- 
ter reliance.  One  volunteer  soldier  of  skill  Illi- 
nois produced,  General  James  D.  Henry.  A 
blacksmith  by  calling,  Henry  delighted  in  the 
reading  of  military  books.  Nature  had  given 
him  the  ability  to  lead  undisciplined  men  and  an 
instinct  for  tactics  and  strategy  that  led  him  right 
where  men  with  better  systematic  training  went 
wrong.  His  claims  to  the  honors  of  the  Black 
Hawk  War  were  disputed  by  the  Dodges  of  Wis- 
consin and  by  regular  officers;  but  any  careful 


172  The  Story  of  Illinois 

student  must  concede  to  Henry  much  of  the  credit 
for  the  battles  of  the  Wisconsin  and  the  Bad  Axe, 
which  reduced  Black  Hawk  and  his  band  to  ab- 
ject submission.  Black  Hawk  was  held  a  pris- 
oner, his  Indians  removed  across  the  Missis- 
sippi. A  century  and  a  half  after  Marquette 
had  first  met  the  Indian  in  the  Illinois  country  the 
white  man  had  finally  expelled  him  from  it. 

The  Black  Hawk  War  has  an  especial  interest 
to  Illinois  history  for  the  reason  that  many  a 
promising  young  politician  with  a  career  before 
him  answered  the  call  of  duty  and  marched  with 
the  militia  to  put  down  Black  Hawk.  Most  of 
the  Illinois  statesmen  of  later  days  who  were  in 
the  state  at  the  time  entered  in  their  records  the 
campaign  of  1832.  Abraham  Lincoln  served  as 
a  captain  of  militia  in  it,  and  accepted  a  land 
bounty  for  his  service,  which  he  later  immortal- 
ized in  a  richly  humorous  comparison  of  its  blood- 
lessness  with  the  military  record  of  General  Lewis 
Cass. 

With  the  passing  of  the  Indian  there  was  noth- 
ing to  impede  the  advance  of  the  white  man. 
Everywhere  farms  were  carved  out  of  the  wilder- 
ness before  the  government  had  opened  it  for 
sale.  As  tract  after  tract  was  put  up  for  sale  in 
the  new  land  offices  opened  at  Galena,  Chicago, 
Quincy,  and  Danville,  settlers  who  already  had 
fenced  and  broken  tracts  of  land  and  put  up  cab- 


BLACK  HAWK 

(1768  -  1838) 
From   an    Old    Portrait 


Expansion  of  Frontier  Commonwealth  173 

ins  or  had  bought  the  improvements  of  earlier 
squatters  thronged  to  the  sales  to  buy  the  tracts 
on  which  they  had  already  established  their 
homes.  At  times  in  the  thirties  temporary  pre- 
emption acts  protected  them.  When  they  did  not 
the  settlers  protected  themselves.  In  land  dis- 
tricts before  lands  were  put  on  sale  the  settlers 
formed  settlers'  committees  which  first  adjusted 
disputes  between  actual  settlers  as  to  overlapping 
claims  and  then  attended  sales  in  force  to  overawe 
any  speculator  who  dared  to  bid  on  a  settler's  im- 
provement. 

The  methods  of  the  war  with  the  soil  were 
changing.  Men  had  conquered  their  dread  of 
the  prairies;  but  they  took  care  usually  to  enter 
sections  that  included  a  bit  of  wood  land  for 
cabin,  fence  rails,  and  fire  wood.  If  they  did  not 
they  had  to  borrow  those  necessary  articles  from 
the  lands  of  nonresidents  or  if  the  settler  had  a 
New  England  conscience,  from  the  land  still  be- 
longing to  the  United  States.  Good  springs  and 
healthful  home  sites  were  other  things  to  look 
for.  The  men  who  came  to  this  district  in  the 
thirties  had  money  to  spend;  and  definite  rates 
for  service  established  themselves,  two  dollars 
and  fifty  cents  an  acre  for  breaking  prairie, 
two  dollars  a  hundred  for  cutting  rails,  hauling 
them  and  building  a  rail  fence.  Often  the  claim 
and  improvements  of  a  squatter  without  his  one 


174  The  Story  of  Illinois 

dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  acre  to  pay  in  at 
the  land  office  were  for  sale  and  made  that  much 
easier  the  establishment  of  a  new  home.  Squat- 
ters and  day  laborers  could  and  did  by  industry 
earn  the  money  to  enter  quarter  sections  of  their 
own.  The  day  of  promise  seemed  fully  dawned 
for  every  man  able  and  willing  to  work. 

Everywhere  through  the  district  was  to  be 
found  the  track  of  the  speculator.  For  years 
eastern  speculators  had  been  buying  up  choice 
tracts  in  the  so-called  military  tract  west  of  the 
Illinois  River;  for  many  a  veteran  of  the  War 
of  1 8 12  parted  with  his  bounty  land  in  Illinois  for 
a  song.  Now  they  were  busy  in  the  new  reaches 
opened  up  for  sale  in  northwestern  Illinois.  A 
favorite  trick  was  to  buy  up  the  quarter  sections 
of  woodland  along  the  rivers  and  resell  at  a  hand- 
some profit  to  the  heedless  man  who  located  his 
tract  entirely  on  the  adjoining  prairies.  But  the 
town  sites  offered  even  better  picking.  As  county 
seats  in  the  new  counties  springing  up,  as  com- 
mercial centers,  old  forts,  trading  posts  and  fords 
were  developing  into  towns,  Warsaw,  Oquawka, 
Savanna,  Rock  Island  on  the  Mississippi,  Peoria, 
Rockford,  in  the  interior  and  above  all  Chicago.1 

1  The  following  advertisement  may  serve  as  a  specimen  of 
the  speculative  towns  of  the  day. 

PUBLIC  SALE  OF  LOTS  IN  THE  TOWN  OF  HURON 
On  Monday  21st  of  August  next,  will  be  sold  on  the  premises 
to  the  highest  bidder,  ioo  Town  Lots  in  Gay's  addition  to  the 


Expansion  of  Frontier  Commonwealth  17 5 

Chicago  in  the  middle  thirties  was  the  happy 
hunting  ground  of  the  speculator.  Into  the  Chi- 
cago River  crowded  schooners  and  steamers  ex- 
peditiously bringing  emigrants  and  their  house- 
town  of  Huron,  Sangamon  county,  Illinois.  Huron  is  situated 
on  the  south  bank  of  Sangamon  River,  at  the  point  before 
known  as  Miller's  Ferry,  about  30  miles  from  Beardstown,  30 
miles  from  Jacksonville,  30  miles  from  Freemont  and  Pekin,  30 
miles  from  Springfield,  the  seat  of  government  of  the  State  — 
also  at  a  point  where  the  canal  from  Beardstown  must  intersect 
the  Sangamon  River,  (by  an  act  of  the  Legislature)  which  has 
already  been  surveyed.  It  is  likewise  about  the  geographical 
center  of  that  part  of  the  Territory  of  Sangamon  county,  which 
by  general  consent,  it  is  conceded,  must  in  a  short  time  become 
a  new  county  —  is  surrounded  by  fertile  and  healthy  country, 
now  containing  a  large  and  industrious  population,  and  which 
is  constantly  and  rapidly  increasing.  It  must  command  a  large 
portion  of  the  trade  of  Pecan  bottom,  a  tract  unrivaled  in  fer- 
tility and  beauty  by  any  in  the  State,  as  well  as  a  large  extent 
of  rich  and  fertile  country  adjacent.  And  in  the  event  of  the 
construction  of  the  canal  (which  from  the  nature  of  the  river, 
precluding  almost  the  possibility  of  its  ever  becoming  navi- 
gable) which  the  interests  of  the  country  and  of  the  stockholders 
require,  Huron  will  possess  the  advantages  of  an  immense  water 
power,  that  cannot  fail  to  build  it  up  at  once  into  a  flourishing 
and  populous  town.  There  is  one  saw  and  grist  mill  now  in 
operation  about  4  miles  from  Huron,  and  two  more  building 
within  six  miles.  The  water  is  of  the  first  quality.  There  are 
two  state  roads  running  through  Huron  at  right  angles,  and 
the  principal  part  of  the  travel  to  the  upper  part  of  the  Military 
Tract  is  thro  this  place.  The  town  lies  on  the  second  table,  and 
principally  about  30  feet  above  high  water  mark.  Should  the 
State  take  a  fancy  to  make  the  Sangamon  River  navigable, 
(which  might  be  done  by  digging  a  channel  150  or  200  miles) 
then  Huron  possesses  the  advantage  of  being  one  of  the  most 
prominent  points  of  the  river. 

We  say  that  Huron  possessing  all  these  advantages  must  be- 
come an  important  place,  and  is  worthy  the  attention  of 
persons  who  wish  to  make  good  investments,  or  who  seek  favor- 
able locations  for  business. 

Terms  —  Six  and  twelve  months  credit. 
Huron,  July  7,  1837  G.  W.  Gay,  Agent. 

Sangamo  Journal,  Aug.  5,  1837.  297  ts. 


176  The  Story  of  Illinois 

hold  goods,  merchants  and  their  stores  from  the 
head  of  Lake  Erie  where  De  Witt  Clinton's  Erie 
canal  opened  up  the  way  from  New  York  and 
New  England.  Some  of  the  newcomers  swarmed 
out  into  the  rich  lands  of  northern  Illinois;  but 
many  stayed  in  Chicago.  The  city  grew  rapidly 
year  by  year  in  population.  In  1837  it  was  in- 
corporated. Town  lots  sold  for  one  hundred 
dollars  a  front  foot;  speculators  made  fortunes 
in  the  city's  real  estate. 

Speculation  was  not  merely  local  to  Illinois. 
In  those  years  it  ran  throughout  the  Union  and 
throughout  the  West  in  particular.  The  deposit 
of  federal  funds  in  state  banks  had  given  the 
banks  great  assets  on  which  they  were  eager  to 
reap  profits.  They  would  readily  lend  to  the 
speculator  the  precious  bank  notes  that  would  buy 
at  the  land  office  the  sections  and  quarter  sections 
of  rich  western  land.  The  attention  of  the  specu- 
lators fluctuated  from  state  to  state;  Indiana  this 
year,  Mississippi  that,  Illinois  another  led  the 
sales  of  lands  in  terms  of  millions  of  acres  where 
a  decade  before  barely  hundreds  of  thousands 
were  sold.  Till  Jackson  checked  the  mania  by 
prescribing  that  only  gold  and  silver  be  received 
for  public  lands  speculating  was  easy  and  sure 
wealth. 

Throughout  the  states  of  the  northwest  men's 
imaginations  ran  riot.     They  were  fired  by  the 


Expansion  of  Frontier  Commonwealth  177 

matchless  beauty  of  the  untouched  prairies  with 
their  lavish  succession  of  flowers  from  the  spring 
violet  and  grass  flower,  the  pink,  the  crimson 
phlox,  the  physostegia,  the  purple  liatris,  to  the 
blue  and  gold  of  the  fall  aster  and  the  golden  rod. 
Their  cupidity  was  quickened  by  the  promise  of 
the  rich  farms  that  lay  beneath;  by  brisk  and 
thriving  villages  grown  over  night,  by  commercial 
metropolises  whose  buildings  in  sober  reality 
grew  as  through  a  mirage.  The  promise  of 
wealth  nature  stretched  out  to  them  on  every  side 
with  lavish  hands.  Only  adequate  means  of 
transportation  and  capital  seemed  needed  to  en- 
joy it  at  the  fullest;  and  with  optimism  run  wild 
men  in  the  middle  thirties  set  about  securing  both 
these  things. 

The  general  assembly  caught  the  contagion  and 
once  more  began  to  think  in  terms  of  millions. 
It  had  about  1830  painfully  wound  up  the  affairs 
of  the  State  Bank  of  Illinois;  it  had  seen  the  Bank 
of  Edwardsville  fail  and  the  Bank  of  Illinois  at 
Shawneetown  while  solvent  suspend  business.  It 
had  despised  not  the  day  of  small  things  and  had 
debated  with  praiseworthy  economy  of  the  peo- 
ple's money  appropriations  of  hundreds  or  thou- 
sands of  dollars,  and  with  republican  virtue  had 
looked  closely  to  its  own  small  per  diem.  But 
the  boom  times  of  the  thirties  awoke  it  anew.  It 
began  once  more  the  chartering  of  banks.     The 


178  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Bank  of  Illinois  in  1835  was  rechartered  for  a 
capital  of  a  million.  The  new  State  Bank  of 
Illinois  was  created  in  the  same  year  to  have 
branches  and  a  capital  of  $1,500,000. 

These  friendly  institutions  would  doubtless  sup- 
ply to  a  growing  and  progressive  country  the 
money  it  needed  but  how  was  the  state  to  obtain 
the  transportation  required  to  pour  into  the 
world's  markets  the  produce  of  the  Illinois 
prairies?  True  there  was  the  grant  of  Federal 
land  obtained  for  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal 
in  1827  by  Daniel  Pope  Cook  —  his  last  service 
to  the  state.  Alternate  tracts  to  a  depth  of  five 
sections  along  the  route  were  much.  Illinois  had 
discussed  various  projects,  had  debated  the  advis- 
ability of  canal  or  railroad,  and  finally  in  spite 
of  engineering  difficulties  decided  on  a  canal.  In 
1836  the  state  finally  concluded  to  undertake  the 
work  of  funds  raised  on  credit,  trusting  to  the  sale 
of  canal  lands  and  the  tolls  of  the  canal  to  pay 
the  debt.  That  same  session  of  the  legislature 
saw  the  passage  of  a  flood  of  bills  for  private 
corporations  to  construct  railroads,  canals,  turn- 
pike roads  with  powers  stated  in  all  degrees  of 
looseness.  In  view  of  Marshall's  decision  in  the 
Dartmouth  College  case  that  a  state  may  not 
change  corporate  powers  it  has  granted,  one  shud- 
ders at  the  thought  of  what  an  ungovernable 
transportation  system  Illinois  would  have  endured 


Expansion  of  Frontier  Commonwealth  179 

had    these    bills    been    anything   but    a    pleasant 
mirage. 

The  excitement  was  satirized  most  ably  by  Wil- 
liam Kinney,  in  a  speech  that  may  serve  as  a  speci- 
men of  his  style: 

Mr.  Cheerman  —  The  gentleman  what  has 
just  taken  his  seat  says,  he  is  decidedly  in  favor 
of  railroads,  and  that  upon  the  joint  stock 
principle,  the  state  subscribing  one  third  and 
individuals  the  residue;  a  railroad  should  be  con- 
structed from  the  city  of  New  Jerusalem,  about 
to  be  built  on  the  Rocky  Mountains,  through 
Peoria  to  the  City  of  New  York — For  he  says, 
there  are  actually  people  now  residing  at  Peoria ! 
And  report  says  there  are  even  some  (besides 
Indians)  beyond  there.  —  He  knows  every  inch 
of  ground  in  the  whole  state  of  Illinois  —  and 
has  surveyed  the  same  from  the  center  to  the 
circumference  —  and  Peoria  is  exactly  three  miles, 
twenty  three  chains,  eleven  and  eleven  sixteenths 
links  from  the  geographical  center;  and  in  all 
respects  the  most  suitable  and  practicable  location 
for  a  seat  of  government  in  the  universe;  and  is 
in  fact  the  only  place  under  the  sun  where  all  the 
turnpikes,  railroads,  highways,  canals  and  water 
courses,  both  natural  and  artificial,  must  eventual- 
ly terminate. 

The  gentleman  in  flights  of  fancy  has  disdained 
to  confine  himself  to  this  little  dirty  planet, 
earth  —  in  his  vast  and  fertile  imagination  he  has 
constructed  a  double  track  railroad  to  the  moon, 
and  traveled  thither  on  a  locomotive  at  the  rate 


180  The  Story  of  Illinois 

of  75,000  miles  per  hour  —  thence  he  has  thrown 
a  summerset  and  landed  straddle  of  the  north 
pole  —  then  vaulted  into  the  regions  of  eternal 
space,  and  there  with  a  dead  rest  and  unerring 
aim,  has  shot  at  eternity. 

Some  men  are  born  poets,  and  all  women  are 
born  singers,  but  as  to  that  air  critter  what  has 
just  taken  his  seat,  any  body  can  see  Natur  has 
made  him  an  Orator! 1 

But  now  southern  Illinois  had  caught  the  in- 
ternal improvement  fever.  The  oldest  settled 
part  of  the  state,  she  had  seen  the  rich  lands  of 
the  north  fill  up  while  her  own  counties  remained 
unpeopled.  A  great  transportation  system  might 
redress  the  balance.  Accordingly  in  the  session 
of  1836-7  the  legislature  set  enthusiastically  to 
work  out  a  great  system  of  internal  improvements 
to  be  constructed  on  the  credit  of  the  state.  The 
Wabash,  Illinois,  Kaskaskia  and  Rock  Rivers 
were  to  be  improved.  There  was  to  be  an  Illinois 
Central  railroad  from  the  terminus  of  the  Illinois 
and  Michigan  Canal  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio 
River  at  Cairo,  two  east  and  west  lines,  the 
Southern  Cross  and  the  Northern  Cross  railroads, 
the  former  from  Alton  to  Mt.  CarmeJ,  the  latter 
via  Quincy  and  Springfield  to  the  Indiana  state 
line,  and  divers  other  enterprises.  All  this  was 
supported  on  the  most  enthusiastic  calculations  of 


Belleville  Advocate,  Dec.  9,  1841. 


Expansion  of  Frontier  Commonwealth  181 

profits  from  the  work  and  the  distribution  to  the 
states  of  the  surplus  federal  revenue.  The  Coun- 
cil of  Revision  consisting  of  Governor  Duncan 
and  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  vetoed  the 
bill,  but  it  passed  over  the  veto. 

The  Internal  Improvement  System  had  been 
adopted  because  at  the  same  session  the  question 
had  come  up  of  a  relocation  of  the  state  capital. 
The  capital  had  been  located  for  twenty  years  at 
Vandalia  merely  as  a  speculation  in  town  lots  by 
the  state.  Now  as  the  twenty  years  neared  its 
end  Alton,  Jacksonville,  Peoria,  and  Springfield 
were  all  aspiring  to  the  dignity.  The  Springfield 
delegation  in  the  legislative  session  of  1837,  the 
famous  Long  Nine  —  headed  by  Abraham  Lin- 
coln—  traded  their  votes  on  the  internal  improve- 
ment system  for  the  location  of  the  capital  at 
Springfield. 

As  Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  the  leaders 
in  the  internal  improvement,  movement,  and  in  his 
earlier  life  typified  the  ambition  for  material  prog- 
ress that  characterized  it,  it  is  fitting  here  to 
recall  to  the  reader  the  main  facts  of  his  earlier 
career.  He  was  born  in  central  Kentucky  in  1809. 
His  father  was  of  the  squatter  type?  and  drifted 
with  the  advancing  frontier,  first  to  southern  In- 
diana, and  then,  in  1830,  to  eastern  Illinois,  to 
Decatur,  and  to  Coles  County.  Abraham  Lincoln 
now  of  age  struck  out  for  himself,  settling  at  New 


1 82  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Salem,  then  included  in  Sangamon  County.  His 
physical  strength  and  his  wit  made  him  a  leader 
and  he  went  into  politics,  running  a  close  race  for 
the  General  Assembly  in  1832  and  being  elected  in 
1834,  1836,  1838,  and  1840.  He  soon  was 
counted  among  the  younger  leaders  of  the  whig 
party  in  the  state.  First  an  unsuccessful  store- 
keeper in  New  Salem,  he  took  up  the  study  of  law 
by  himself  and  in  1836  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
He  removed  to  Springfield  in  1837,  marrying 
Mary  Todd,  daughter  of  an  aristocratic  Kentucky 
family,  five  years  later.  With  the  exception  of  a 
term  in  Congress,  1847  to  ^49,  ne  devoted  him- 
self to  the  practice  of  law  at  Springfield  and  on 
the  Eastern  Illinois  circuit  till  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  in  1854.  To  his  contempo- 
raries he  as  yet  seemed  little  more  than  a  good 
jury  lawyer  who  sought  the  law  of  his  cases  by 
intuition  rather  than  study,  a  clever  and  honest 
politician,  and  a  companion  whose  wit  made  him 
the  life  of  his  company. 

When  the  system  went  into  effect,  in  accordance 
with  the  law  construction  was  begun  simultane- 
ously at  many  different  points.  The  panic  of 
1837  cut  off  the  bonus  of  federal  money.  The 
State  Bank  to  which  the  state  had  subscribed 
paper  capital  expecting  to  receive  huge  specie 
profits  was  deep  in  difficulties.  The  legislature 
of  1839  at  tne  behest  of  the  South  laid  a  heavy 


Expansion  of  Frontier  Commonwealth^^ 

tax  compared  to  what  the  state  had  hitherto 
known;  twenty  cents  on  the  one  hundred  dollars 
was  an  argument  to  use  in  approaching  English 
bankers  for  a  loan.  Opposition  to  the  system  had 
already  been  gathering;  and  this  tax  turned  the 
scale.  Demands  for  a  classification  or  a  repeal  of 
the  system  began  to  spread. 

Meanwhile  the  Fund  Commissioners  of  the 
state  floated  what  bonds  they  could  in  New  York, 
and  then  turned  to  the  firm  of  John  Wright  in 
London.  Commissioners  for  the  canal  bonds  and 
the  internal  improvement  bonds  were  soon  com- 
peting in  the  market.  Blocks  of  bonds  from  the 
hands  of  bankrupts  began  to  come  in  the  market 
and  depress  it.  Governor  Carlin  considered  for 
a  time  the  contract  with  Wright  illegal,  held  it 
up  long  enough  to  cause  the  failure  of  Wright's 
house  and  then  ratified  it.  Work  on  the  system 
stopped  in  1840.  By  1841  the  state  could  no 
longer  pay  the  interest  on  its  bonds,  its  work 
stopped  and  the  whole  system  came  crashing 
down.  The  banks  had  suspended  specie  pay- 
ments; the  State  Bank  had  speculated  wildly,  its 
notes  circulated  at  an  increasing  discount  and  ruin 
wras  everywhere.  A  member  of  the  general  as- 
sembly stated  that  in  his  district  constables  and 
magistrates  were  the  only  business  men. 

The  roseate  hues  of  speculation  and  optimism 
no   longer  colored  life.     Northern   Illinois   dis- 


184  The  Story  of  Illinois 

trustful  of  the  imperial  destiny  of  the  state  began 
to  look  longingly  toward  debt  free  Wisconsin 
Territory  and  many  men  proposed  that  the 
Northwest  ordinance  be  obeyed  and  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  state  be  the  line  through  the  foot 
of  Lake  Michigan.  Trade  had  degenerated  into 
barter.  It  is  of  these  days  that  old  residents  of 
Chicago  used  to  delight  in  telling  how  they  had 
refused  an  offer  of  the  site  of  Marshall  Field's 
retail  store  for  an  old  set  of  harness.  Certainly 
one  hundred  dollar  a  foot  values  were  no  longer 
in  evidence. 

The  solution  of  the  state's  difficulty  was 
achieved  in  1842  in  the  election  of  Governor 
Thomas  Ford.  His  opponent  in  the  election, 
former  Governor  Joseph  Duncan,  had  rather 
looked  to  the  tariff  of  a  whig  national  administra- 
tion in  1845  and  money  doles  to  the  state  from 
the  federal  government  to  extricate  it.  Ford's 
scheme  compelled  the  state  to  rely  on  itself.  The 
winding  up  of  the  state  bank,  and  an  agreement 
by  which  the  state's  creditors  should  advance 
funds  for  the  completion  of  the  canal  on  a  pledge 
of  its  lands  and  tolls  was  the  solution  finally 
adopted  and  adhered  to  by  both  sides.  Popula- 
tion and  business  now  flowed  to  Illinois  and  the 
debt  of  fifteen  millions  no  longer  seemed  a  serious 
matter.  Illinois  had  extricated  herself  by  her 
own  efforts  from  the  effects  of  her  folly.     She 


[Plate  owned  by  Illinois  State  Historical  Library] 

(?— 1850) 


Expansion  of  Frontier  Commonwealth  185 

had  been  too  optimistic  of  the  future  in  1837,  but 
her  destiny  was  unfolding  rapidly.  The  railroads 
came  fifteen  years  later  than  she  looked  for  them ; 
but  the  material  progress  they  brought  outran 
the  wildest  dreams  of  1837. 

The  state,  however,  owed  her  immediate 
rescue  to  a  man  of  the  age  that  was  passing. 
Poverty  had  beset  Thomas  Ford  throughout  his 
life.  It  had  condemned  him  as  a  young  man  to  a 
role  in  politics  below  his  abilities,  and  in  his  mid- 
dle years  to  the  meager  pay  of  a  circuit  judge. 
In  the  vain  hope  it  might  be  a  legacy  for  his  chil- 
dren, he  left  at  his  death  a  History  of  Illinois 
that  is  a  remarkable  work.  Approaching  the 
period  of  the  state's  history  through  which  he  had 
lived  as  an  example  of  the  futility  of  American 
politics  he  dissected  with  a  merciless  scalpel  both 
politicians  and  political  methods.  John  Reynolds 
in  particular  writhed  in  agony  at  the  acid  recount- 
ing of  stories  revealing  his  littleness  at  which  the 
bar  at  its  circuit  dinners  had  doubtless  roared 
many  a  time.  The  future  careers  of  Douglas, 
Trumbull  and  Lincoln  were  of  course  beyond 
Ford's  knowledge ;  and  he  drew  all  his  characters 
on  the  same  scale.  To  him  the  period  was  one  of 
little  measures  and  little  men.  The  pessimism  with 
which  one  of  the  keenest  commentators  on  Amer- 
ican political  life  regarded  it  is  more  in  the  fash- 
ion of  the  present  age  than  of  his  own. 


1 86  The  Story  of  Illinois 

In  the  face  of  the  great  change  that  was  to 
come  over  Illinois  in  the  decade  of  the  fifties,  we 
may  consider  two  incidents  typical  of  the  frontier 
period  of  the  state  on  the  eve  of  its  passage.  Only 
in  the  frontier  stage  of  development  could  the 
dual  tragedy  of  the  Mormon  settlement  and  the 
Mormon  war  have  been  staged.  Mormonism,  ac- 
cording to  the  Mormons,  began  in  1827,  when 
the  Angel  of  the  Lord  surrendered  to  Joseph 
Smith  miraculous  golden  plates  that  had  been 
buried  for  some  fifteen  centuries  on  the  hill  at 
Palmyra,  New  York;  marvelous  plates  that  told 
long  histories  of  emigrations  to  America  in  days 
before  Christ  and  in  the  early  Christian  era,  of 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  the  founding  of 
churches  here,  of  wars  and  the  wiping  out  by  bar- 
barians of  all  trace  of  the  divine  message.  These 
plates  translated  by  Smith  through  miraculous  in- 
terposition into  the  dull  and  not  too  grammatical 
book  of  Mormon  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Lat- 
ter Day  Saints,  a  religious  group  moulded  into  a 
community  economically  and  politically  servile  to 
Joseph  Smith  and  his  family  and  a  few  other 
leaders. 

The  Latter  Day  Saints  moved  from  place  to 
place  and  always  persecution  followed,  once  in 
Ohio,  twice  in  Missouri.  The  last  persecution  by 
the  Gentiles  in  Missouri  was  the  bitterest  and 
about  1840  the  Saints  sought  refuge  at  Nauvoo 


Expansion  of  Frontier  Commonwealth  187 

in  Hancock  county  on  the  Mississippi.  Here  the 
faithful  began  to  gather  together,  some  converts 
by  Mormon  elders  in  the  East,  more  from  Eng- 
land and  Europe.  A  city  of  perhaps  20,000,  the 
largest  in  the  state  grew  up  in  a  few  years.  Mor- 
mons scattered  into  the  outlying  districts,  but 
even  so  Nauvoo  had  hard  work  in  finding  enter- 
prises to  keep  her  impecunious  thousands  in  food. 

From  the  beginning  Smith  had  sought  to  trade 
off  the  thousands  of  votes  he  controlled  for  po- 
litical privileges.  He  obtained  a  charter  for  Nau- 
voo that  gave  it  an  independent  militia  organiza- 
tion and  local  legislative  power  concurrent  with 
that  of  the  General  Assembly.  In  1840  his  fol- 
lowers voted  for  Harrison,  in  1842  for  Ford 
and  the  democrats;  but  in  1844  Smith  aspired 
himself  to  be  a  presidential  candidate. 

Meanwhile  ugly  rumors  about  Nauvoo  and  the 
Mormons  began  to  circulate.  Scabrous  recruits 
to  the  colony  like  John  C.  Bennett,  when  expelled 
from  it,  began  to  tell  scabrous  stories  of  debauch- 
ery and  plural  marriage  that  went  on  in  it.  Re- 
ports that  it  was  a  refuge  of  horse  thieves  an- 
tagonized the  local  farmers.  In  1844  the  city 
government  under  the  Smiths  forcibly  suppressed 
the  Nauvoo  Expositor,  a  newspaper  that  began 
to  attack  their  management  and  morality.  A  few 
weeks  later  the  Smiths  going  to  Carthage,  the 
county  seat,  in  obedience  to  legal  process  were 


1 88  The  Story  of  Illinois 

murdered  by  a  mob  in  the  Carthage  jail. 

Thereafter  the  Gentiles  of  the  surrounding 
country  took  up  arms  again  and  again  to  force  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Mormons  from  the  state. 
Nauvoo  was  twice  attacked  by  military  forces 
from  surrounding  counties;  once  the  governor 
mustered  the  power  of  the  state  to  protect  it. 
But  Brigham  Young,  stronger  and  abler  than  ever 
the  Smiths  were,  had  seized  control  of  Mormon- 
dom,  expelled  all  hostile  elements  and  prepared 
to  lead  the  colony  to  the  far  West  where  his 
power  would  be  absolute.  In  1846  the  last  of 
the  Mormons  had  left  the  state  on  their  way  to 
Salt  Lake.  The  well-built  houses,  many  of  them 
brick,  that  had  sheltered  a  population  of  thou- 
sands, the  church  buildings,  and  above  all  the 
great  temple  completed  before  the  Mormons  left, 
found  no  successive  tenants  to  use  them  and  have 
long  since  fallen  into  ruin;  a  sleepy  little  village 
of  a  few  hundred,  nestles  in  what  was  a  religious 
colony. 

Much  may  justly  be  said  in  condemnation  of 
the  violence  that  drove  the  Mormons  out  of  the 
state  at  the  point  of  the  rifle;  much  more  of  the 
murder  of  the  Smiths.  But  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  the  Mormon  cancer  was  growing  with 
frightful  rapidity,  and  that  it  had  fastened  itself 
in  a  body  politic  so  rudimentary  that  the  tissues 
could  not  of  themselves  expel  the  intruder.     The 


Expansion  of  Frontier  Commonwealth  189 

knife  of  mob  violence  was  the  only  thing  that 
could  do  it.  Smith  had  striven  to  set  his  com- 
munity outside  the  law  of  the  state;  by  political 
bargaining  he  had  nearly  accomplished  it.  The 
state  had  no  police  force  adequate  to  deal  with 
the  menace  of  autocratic  government  and  defiance 
of  law  and  morals  at  Nauvoo.  The  frontiersmen 
took  the  law  in  their  own  hands  when  the  simple 
government  they  had  erected  in  the  state  for  their 
simple  needs  proved  inadequate.  In  the  frontier 
stage  that  was  passing  in  the  forties  action  was 
necessary  that  in  the  more  advanced  state  of  a 
decade  later  would  have  been  inexcusable. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  RAILROADS 

THE  years  in  which  Illinois  was  called  to 
the  foremost  place  in  the  nation's  councils 
in  deciding  the  great  questions  of  slavery  expan- 
sion, war  and  reconstruction  were  also  years  in 
which  she  was  in  the  throes  of  a  mighty  rebirth. 
Between  1850  and  1870  she  was  transformed 
from  a  simple  frontier  rural  community  to  an  in- 
dustrial state,  with  large  cities  growing  into 
mighty  ones  as  cities  had  never  grown  before  in 
the  world's  history.  Suddenly  she  was  compelled 
to  meet  the  problems  of  a  social,  economic  and 
political  life  made  many  times  more  complex. 
Many  factors  worked  in  the  accomplishment  of 
the  change  but  the  greatest  of  them  was  the  rail- 
roads. 

The  railroad  era  represents  one  of  a  series  of 
mighty  strides  forward  that  the  modern  world 
was  taking.  In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies if  one  had  been  asked  what  the  civilized 
world  in  material  achievement  had  added  to  the 
heritage  of  Greece  and  Rome,  he  could  only  have 
mentioned  the  mariner's  compass,  the  application 
of  gunpowder  to  war,  and  the  application  of  the 

190 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads  191 

printing  press  to  the  rapid  spread  of  the  written 
word  among  men.  By  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  he  would  have  had  to  add  that  the  ap- 
plication of  steam  to  manufacturing  had  made 
possible  the  increased  machine  production  of  the 
industrial  age.  After  1830  he  would  have  seen 
the  remaking  of  the  farm  and  the  multiplication 
of  the  crop  that  could  be  reaped  by  a  single  man 
by  the  harvester  and  other  agricultural  machin- 
ery; he  would  have  seen  the  revolutionizing  of 
transportation,  the  binding  of  city  to  city,  state 
to  state,  nation  to  nation,  by  the  ocean  steamship, 
the  telegraph,  and  the  railroad  in  a  degree  that 
transcended  the  imagination  of  the  most  gifted 
tale  tellers  of  the  past. 

The  railroads  of  the  thirties  had  failed  because 
the  state  had  embarked  on  an  over-ambitious 
scheme  dictated  by  political  alliances  and  roseate 
hopes  rather  than  sound  economic  considerations, 
and  for  the  funds  to  attempt  its  construction  had 
pledged  her  credit  to  credulous  financiers  ignorant 
of  local  conditions.  How  capital  had  accumu- 
lated in  the  eastern  United  States ;  how,  why  and 
in  what  combinations  it  began  to  look  to  Illinois 
railroads  for  investments  are  questions  that  can- 
not be  answered  until  the  economic  history  of  the 
United  States  is  adequately  written.  But  by  the 
late  forties  capitalists  were  beginning  to  bid  for 
charters  that  would   carry   railroads   across   the 


192  The  Story  of  Illinois 

state  to  St.  Louis  or  at  least  to  Chicago  at  the 
terminus  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal. 
That  canal,  opened  in  1848,  was  already  pouring 
the  grain  of  the  Illinois  River  country  and  even 
of  the  Mississippi  away  from  St.  Louis  to  Chi- 
cago, en  route  for  eastern  ports  by  the  Great 
Lakes.  The  old  cry  of  federal  aid  for  internal 
improvements  reechoed,  and  though  such  things 
had  no  part  in  the  program  of  the  democratic 
party,  western-minded  democrats  like  Douglas 
and  Wentworth  set  about  to  get  them.  Douglas 
believed  that  funds  to  make  navigable  the  rivers 
of  the  state  could  be  obtained  by  the  imposition 
of  state  tonnage  duties.  For  the  construction  of 
a  railroad  in  the  state  to  link  Lake  Michigan  and 
the  Ohio  in  1850  he  secured  a  federal  land  grant. 
For  years  before  Senator  Sidney  Breese  had 
been  working  for  federal  aid  to  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  projected  in  1836-7;  Douglas  took 
up  the  scheme,  satisfied  states  rights  democrats 
by  making  it  a  donation  to  the  state  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  road;  and  bore  back  in  triumph 
a  federal  land  grant  along  the  lines  of  the  pro- 
jected road  —  a  Y  connecting  Galena  and  Chi- 
cago with  Cairo  —  that  was  to  net  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company  two  million  five  hun- 
dred thousand  acres.  A  set  of  eastern  capitalists 
promptly  undertook  the  work;  and  eastern  Illi- 
nois, then  almost  a  desert,  blossomed  as  the  rose 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads  193 

with  towns  and  farms. 

Meanwhile  the  state  legislature  was  besieged 
with  requests  for  charters  for  lines  to  cross  the 
state  and  connect  the  Mississippi  with  eastern- 
trunk  lines.  Here  local  interests  contended  ob- 
scurely with  each  other.  Each  locality  of  course 
opposed  the  railroad  schemes  designed  to  help  its 
rivals;  but  Alton  especially  in  the  name  of  "state 
policy"  sought  to  prevent  its  rival,  St.  Louis, 
from  being  the  terminus  of  any  line  crossing  the 
state.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  Governor  French 
and  some  of  the  most  prominent  democratic  poli- 
ticians wrere  in  favor  of  a  St.  Louis  terminus,  the 
advocates  of  "  state  policy  "  in  a  called  session  of 
1849,  passed  a  general  railroad  law  with  a  pro- 
vision that  the  General  Assembly  must  approve 
routes  and  termini.  In  1851  the  Assembly  ap- 
proved the  routing  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
railroad  from  Vincennes  to  Illinoistown  opposite 
St.  Louis.  The  Terre  Haute  and  Alton  project, 
however,  aided  by  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  road, 
till  1854  blocked  the  chartering  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Mississippi  —  a  connection  between  Terre 
Haute  and  Illinoistown.  Bribery  of  the  legisla- 
ture was  freely  charged  on  both  sides.  The  At- 
lantic and  Mississippi  was  not  undertaken  till 
1865;  but  Lieutenant  Governor  Koerner  by  in- 
serting a  joker  in  a  local  railroad  bill,  secured  a 
connection  between  Alton  and  Illinoistown  that 


194  The  Story  of  Illinois 

made  Alton  only  a  way  station  on  a  route  from 
Terre  Haute  to  St.  Louis. 

Meanwhile  other  roads  had  appeared  with 
magical  haste.  The  Galena  and  Chicago  Union, 
later  part  of  the  Northwestern  system,  incorpo- 
rated in  1847,  nad  fourteen  miles  in  operation  in 
1849,  and  reached  Freeport  in  1853.  It  soon 
added  an  air  line  west  from  Chicago  to  Fulton. 
In  the  same  years  a  network  of  roads  in  north- 
ern Illinois  and  southern  Wisconsin  developed, 
ultimately  to  be  combined  in  the  Northwestern 
system.  Between  1851  and  1854  the  Chicago 
and  Rock  Island  was  constructed;  and  by  1854 
the  Chicago  and  Alton.  Within  a  year  or  two 
separate  roads  from  Quincy  to  Galesburg,  from 
Galesburg  to  Mendota,  Galesburg  to  Burlington, 
and  from  Aurora  to  Chicago,  were  united  into 
the  nucleus  of  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and 
Quincy. 

Connections  with  the  East  had  already  devel- 
oped. In  1850  the  Michigan  Southern  and  the 
Michigan  Central,  built  by  rival  capitalist  groups, 
were  seeking  to  block  each  other  out  of  Indiana 
and  Illinois.  Ultimately  they  entered  the  state 
over  spurs,  built  under  state  charters  for  the 
Michigan  Central  by  the  Illinois  Central,  and  for 
the  Michigan  Southern  by  the  Rock  Island.  Chi- 
cago interests  feared  a  junction  outside  Chicago 
from  Joliet  to  La  Porte,  and  felt  that  a  union  of 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads  195 

eastern  and  western  lines  even  five  miles  out  of 
the  city  would  ruin  its  prosperity. 

This  was  of  course  but  the  outline  of  the  Illi- 
nois railroad  net  of  the  present.  Year  by  year 
new  roads  and  connections  developed,  a  dozen 
projects  dying  ingloriously  for  every  one  that 
came  to  fruition.  More  than  one  relic  of  the 
mania  of  1837  was  galvanized  into  a  hectic  life. 

"  I  was  creditably  informed,"  wrote  J.  C.  Allen 
to  Governor  French,  December  9,  1851,  "A  few 
days  since,  that  General  Pickering,  the  indefati- 
gable proprietor  of  the  Mt.  Carmel  and  Alton 
Rail  Road,  in  his  zeal  for  the  completion  of  his 
favorite  work,  has  actually  hired  an  Irishman  and 
set  him  to  work  on  it,  he  (the  Genl)  acting  as 
Superintendent."  1 

Men  learned  to  use  the  railroads  as  soon  as 
they  came.  By  1853  the  State  Register  noted  the 
discontinuance  of  the  last  of  the  lines  of  stages 
for  which  Springfield  had  been  noted.  The  bar, 
riding  the  circuits  through  the  state,  speedily 
learned  to  abandon  the  buggy,  the  wagon  or  the 
stage,  and  to  pick  its  way  even  by  roundabout 
routes  from  one  railroad  line  to  the  next.  Com- 
plaints of  crowded  cars  occur  before  1854.  The 
next  year  the  Illinois  Central  introduced  sleeping 
cars.  In  1857  tne  ^rst  through  Chicago-St.  Louis 
sleeper  was  put  in  operation.     The  coal  burning 

1  French  Manuscripts,   University  of  Illinois. 


196  The  Story  of  Illinois 

locomotive  came  in  to  take  the  place  of  the  wood 
burning.  Accidents  began  to  happen.  The  super- 
intendent of  the  Chicago  &  Alton  issued  an  order 
in  1853  that  an  hour  before  evening  trains  were 
due  section  masters  should  pass  over  their  sections 
on  hand  cars  to  drive  all  cows  off  the  track.  Un- 
fenced  right  of  way  had  their  dangers  and  the 
companies  set  to  fencing  them  as  speedily  as  they 
could. 

In  the  years  between  1849  and  1856  the  popu- 
lation of  the  state  was  changing  rapidly.  The 
restless  frontier  elements  of  pioneer  Illinois  were 
flowing  out  to  the  newer  West.  Migration  to 
California  in  1849-50  caught  the  popular  imagi- 
nation. 

"Our  town,"  said  the  Ottawa  Free  Trader, 
March  23,  1850,  uhas  for  the  past  week  been 
every  evening  so  crowded  with  California  teams 
and  emigrants,  that  the  hotels  have  not  been  able 
to  accommodate  all.  We  can  scarcely  look  out  of 
the  windows  but  we  see  California  teams,  some 
drawn  by  oxen,  some  by  horses,  some  by  ponies, 
some  by  mules  —  every  species  of  conveyance 
seems  to  have  been  brought  into  requisition  and 
every  known  contrivance  to  get  through.  On  Fox 
River  we  are  credibly  informed,  the  migration 
will  average  one  out  of  every  six  able  bodied  men 
.  .  .  .  while  in  our  own  County,  although 
not  as  large  as  this,  the  proportion  is  yet  fear- 
fully large.     You  can  scarce  pass  a  wagon,  wrote 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads  197 

an  Illinois  emigrant,  but  tis  the  common  inquiry 
of  'Where  do  you  hail  from?'  the  certain  re- 
sponse is  'from  Illinois;'  'what  county?'  and 
you  may  have  an  answer  from  every  county  of  the 
state."  1 

Similar  banded  migration  to  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska from  1853  on,  and  to  Pike's  Peak  in  1859 
attracted  attention.  The  steady  drift  of  the  rest- 
less to  other  parts  of  the  newer  West,  revealed 
by  the  census  of  i860,  passed  without  comment. 

Population  poured  in  far  more  rapidly  than  it 
poured  out.  Eastern  Illinois  between  1850  and 
1856  settled  as  if  by  enchantment.  The  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  held  its  lands  as  high  as  fifteen 
dollars  an  acre.  Speculators  like  Governor 
French  hastened  to  make  locations  along  it  in  cen- 
tral and  southern  Illinois  on  government  lands 
that  still  sold  as  low  as  twelve  and  one-half  cents. 
Men,  and  even  neighborhoods  in  "Egypt"  that 
had  improved  farms  on  government  land  without 
troubling  to  enter  it,  trusting  to  the  rifle  to  protect 
them  against  intruders,  were  threatened  with  loss 
of  their  lives'  earnings  of  $4,000  or  $5,ooo.2  In 
1849,  almost  fifteen  million  government  acres,  or 
two-fifths  the  area  of  the  state  remained  unsold. 
In  1857  there  were  but  294,149  acres  left.     In 


1  State  Register,  May  31,  1849. 

2  Both    the   United    States    and    the    Illinois    Central    granted 
liberal  terras  to  such  squatters. 


198  The  Story  of  Illinois 

four  years  the  railroad  changed  Jonesboro  from 
a  village  of  fifty  log  huts  to  a  town  of  two  thou- 
sand population.  A  man  who  in  traveling  over 
the  Illinois  Central  from  Mattoon  to  Odin  in 
1857  had  only  the  conductor  and  brakeman  in 
the  car  with  him,  in  1864  passed  through  thriving 
villages  every  six  miles,  where  formerly  there 
were  but  open  prairies  or  bare  station  houses. 
Between  1850  and  i860  the  population  of  the 
forty-nine  counties  through  which  the  Illinois 
Central  ran  was  said  to  have  increased  from  335,- 
598  to  814,891.  Similar  results  appeared  in  the 
military  tract  and  to  a  less  degree  in  most  other 
parts  of  the  state. 

Southern  and  eastern  Illinois  at  last  were  set- 
tled. The  population  that  came  in  came  from 
New  England;  it  came  also  from  Germany  in  the 
shape  of  political  idealists,  seeking  a  land  of  lib- 
erty after  the  disaster  of  1848;  and  from  Europe 
generally,  There  were  colonies  of  Frenchmen 
as  at  Nauvoo,  of  French  Canadians  in  the  Kanka- 
kee country,  of  Swedes  as  at  Bishop  Hill.  Nor- 
wegians pressed  into  the  state.  The  foreign  born 
population  tended  toward  towns;  by  i860  Chi- 
cago had  more  foreign  born  than  native  born 
population. 

At  the  coming  of  the  railroads  the  McCormick 
harvester  and  the  many  other  makes  of  reaper, 
had  already  foreshadowed  the  revolutionizing  of 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads  199 

Illinois  agriculture.  In  the  Civil  War  young  men 
by  hundreds  of  thousands  could  leave  the  farms 
of  Illinois  for  the  battlefield,  secure  that  the 
reaper  could  gather  crops  that  would  feed  the 
United  States  and  Europe  as  well.  No  longer 
was  a  man's  planting  limited  by  the  amount  he 
could  reap  by  the  scythe  in  a  harvest  season.  In 
the  middle  fifties,  the  tedder,  the  steam  plow, 
were  taking  their  place  beside  the  reaper.  Skilled 
farmers  who  had  been  in  Illinois  since  it  was  a 
state  had  been  eager  to  teach  their  fellows  all  the 
scientific  agriculture  known  in  their  day.  Now 
the  instruction  was  enforced  at  first  hand  by  the 
great  cattle  feeding  ranches,  the  great  farms,  the 
great  fruit  orchards  that  stood  as  incentives  to 
the  ambitious  pioneer  farmer.  Agricultural  so- 
cieties and  agricultural  papers  spread  the  informa- 
tion how  the  excellency  of  these  things  might  be 
copied.  The  shiftless  farmer  and  the  dilapidated 
farmhouse  were  migrating  or  amending.  The 
Illinois  farm,  the  basis  of  the  state's  prosperity, 
was  already  being  revolutionized  before  1848  or 
1850.     The  railroad  accentuated  the  progress. 

One  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  the 
period  was  the  development  of  Chicago.  By  1859 
men  mentioned  with  pride  that  Cyrus  H.  Mc- 
Cormick's  reaper  works  gave  support  to  250 
families;  but  manufacturing  was  the  least  of  her 
achievements.    The  completion  of  the  Illinois  and 


200  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Michigan  Canal  had  resulted  in  the  shipping  by 
Chicago  and  the  Great  Lakes  of  great  amounts  of 
grain,  that  formerly  found  its  way  by  the  Illinois 
to  St.  Louis  and  the  east.  Holding  that  her  lake 
route  to  the  east  was  her  greatest  commercial 
asset  she  feared  lest  railroad  cut-offs  to  the  east 
should  deflect  trade  from  her  by  rail,  unconscious 
of  the  bounty  the  railroads  were  to  fling  in  her 
lap.  The  New  Orleans  outlet  of  St.  Louis  for 
produce  was  inferior  to  that  of  Chicago  on  the 
Atlantic  seaboard.  The  Alton  and  the  Illinois 
Central  contributed  their  share  to  bringing  prod- 
uce into  Chicago  and  distributing  merchandise 
from  her.  The  roads  that  in  the  fifties  reached 
out  from  her  to  the  Mississippi  and  to  the 
Greater  Northwest  beyond  diverted  great  masses 
of  freight  that  formerly  had  followed  the  Mis- 
sissippi to  St.  Louis.  For  instance,  receipts  of 
lead  there  between  1851  and  1857  declined  from 
503,751  to  200,402  pigs;  and  on  the  ground  of 
obstruction  to  river  traffic  St.  Louis  vainly  made 
war  legal  and  illegal  against  the  Rock  Island 
bridge  across  the  Mississippi,  the  symbol  of  the 
ruin  of  her  commercial  empire  in  the  north. 

Chicago  business  became  hectic  as  today,  as  a 
description  of  the  Chicago  grain  dealers  of  1859 
may  show: 

They  get  up  at  sunrise,  bolt  their  steak  and 
rolls,  and  rush  down  town  to  the  "  first  board," 


J*^ 


I 


(1809-1859)  V^ 

[From   painting   in   the   McCormick   Agricultural   Library,   Chicago] 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads         201 

which  meets  at  a  well  known  corner  between  eight 
and  eleven  o'clock.  There  they  buy  and  sell  — 
till  it  is  time  to  attend  the  "  second  board/'  at  the 
Board  of  Trade  rooms.  There  they  investigate 
the  bulletin  boards,  note  the  receipts  and  the  ship- 
ments.—  Half-past  eleven  o'clock  comes,  and  all 
eyes*  are  turned  towards  the  telegraph  office  across 
the  way.  The  New  York  dispatches  are  ex- 
pected; and  nothing  can  be  done  till  they  arrive. 

The  "third  board"  has  met — on  the  corner 
before  mentioned  (some  call  it  Gambler's  Cor- 
ner), and  the  same  operations  described  on 
'Change  are  repeated  —  only  with  more  reckless- 
ness  And    thus    it    goes    till    six 

o'clock 

.  .  .  .  What !  go  home  at  six  o'clock,  and 
not  return  to  the  city  again !  The  steamer  might 
come  in  with  a  decline,  and  thus  thousands  of 
dollars  would  be  lost  —  or  not  won  —  which  is 

all  the  same No;  they  must  attend 

the  "fourth  board"  at  the  Tremont  House  —  or 
rather  on  the  sidewalk  opposite  the  Tremont. 
.     .     .     .     It  meets  at  7  o'clock  P.  M.1 

Chicago  in  population  increased  from  29,963  in 
1850  to  80,000  in  1855,  109,000  in  i860,  and 
298,977  in  1870.  The  other  towns  of  the  state 
increased  also.  The  little  trading  centers  of  the 
forties  numbering  two,  three,  four  or,  as  at  Chi- 
cago, eight  or  ten  thousand  began  to  grow  in 
earnest.      In    1850    Springfield,    Alton,    Peoria, 

1  Chicago  Press  and  Tribune,  July  4,  1859. 


202  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Cairo,  Quincy,  Belleville,  Beardstown  and  Ottawa 
were  all  thriving  towns.  By  i860  the  largest  of 
them,  Peoria  and  Quincy,  exceeded  twenty  thou- 
sand. 

Naturally  such  municipalities  had  their  prob- 
lems. Before  1850  the  Illinois  municipal  law, 
applicable  to  little  towns  of  a  few  hundreds,  was 
highly  rudimentary.  Now  with  the  gathering  of 
population  together  regulation  became  essential. 
Boards  sinking  in  abysses  of  mud  could  not  take 
the  place  of  sidewalks.  Hogs  wallowing  in 
muddy  streets  and  cows  chewing  their  cuds  in  re- 
pose across  footways  sorted  ill  with  the  ambitions 
of  young  metropolises;  and  one  after  another  in 
the  fifties  the  Illinois  cities  from  Chicago  down 
wrestled  with  the  problem  as  to  whether  hogs  and 
cows  should  be  barred  from  the  public  streets. 
Once  that  was  done  there  arose  the  problem  of 
the  garbage  formerly  piled  high  in  the  gutters 
for  hogs  to  remove,  of  drains  in  the  open  street, 
of  polluted  water  supplies;  and  while  the  towns 
toiled  over  their  A.  B.  C.'s  of  sanitation,  epidem- 
ics of  cholera  swept  them  as  in  1848,  1850  and 
1851. 

On  such  matters  no  city  could  be  the  first  to  cast 
a  stone  at  a  rival. 

"Our  city  Hogs,"  said  the  Springfield  Journal, 
September  7,  1853,  "are  a  very  industrious  and 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads  203 

refined  race  as  evidenced  by  their  labors  and 
amusements.  They  are  now  in  the  enjoyment  of 
the  city,  find  plenty  of  "grub"  every  where,  and 
feel  no  anxiety  for  the  coming  morrow. 
The  peach  stones  found  about  the  streets  and 
cracked  by  the  swinish  herd,  are  used  as  a  dessert. 
They  amuse  themselves  by  digging  holes  in  the 
gutters,  some  of  them  at  the  corners  of  the  streets 
—  some  several  feet  deep  —  the  one  at  the  cor- 
ner near  the  State  House  is  probably  three  feet 
deep  —  into  these  they  collect  all  the  moisture  in 
the  neighborhood  and  stir  up  a  most  beautiful 
batter.  It  is  about  the  consistency  of  cream  or 
perhaps  mush.  Now,  every  thing  ready,  his  swine- 
ship  takes  a  walk  about  the  city.  He  notices, 
especially,  all  newly  painted  fences  and  houses 
within  his  reach."     .... 

Thirteen  years  later  even  a  worse  story  could 
be  told  of  Chicago. 

Men  had  to  learn  that  living  so  closely  together 
they  must  do  many  things  jointly  that  before  they 
had  done  each  for  himself.  In  1850  Chicago  was 
preparing  to  install  gas  lighting,  a  sewage  system, 
and  a  water  system.  In  1853  Quincy  and  Peoria 
put  in  gas  plants;  in  1855  Springfield  and  Quincy 
had  water  works.  The  presence  of  many  little 
children  in  cities  too  dense  to  allow  of  family 
cows  created  the  necessity  of  dairies;  and  till  men 
learned  to  regulate  these,  the  innocents  were  mas- 
sacred by  milk  from  cows  fed  with  distillery  mash. 
Busses  appeared  in  Chicago  in  1850,  street  cars  in 


204  The  Story  of  Illinois 

1859;  and  till  the  coming  of  the  automobile  set 
individuals  once  more  at  liberty  from  the  mass, 
men  in  cities  used  public  utilities  and  traveled  and 
lived  together  in  ever  increasing  degree. 

Some  of  the  problems  of  the  age  were  not  so 
easily  settled.  The  descendant  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Puritan,  the  zealous  Methodist,  had  modes 
of  life  quite  different  from  those  of  the  German 
or  Irish  emigrant;  and  with  his  greater  political 
experience  and  skill  set  about  enforcing  his  own 
theories  of  sobriety  and  decency  upon  them.  No 
question  existed  that  the  doggery,  grocery  or 
saloon,  where  whiskey  was  dispensed  freely,  was 
a  bad  thing;  at  its  worst  along  the  line  of  the 
canal  where  a  whiskey  was  sold  the  "  canal  Irish  " 
consisting  of  a  concentrated  extract  diluted  with 
water;  and  the  Puritan  set  about  reforming  it  al- 
together. In  Chicago  the  elements  accustomed  to 
the  use  of  beer  and  wines  on  the  Sabbath  suc- 
ceeded in  defeating  everything  but  a  high  license 
system;  but  in  one  down  state  town  after  another 
prohibition  was  tried  in  the  middle  fifties  and 
then  abandoned.  Between  1851  and  1853  a  law, 
practically  a  dead  letter,  prescribed  that  liquors 
should  not  be  retailed  in  less  quantities  than  one 
quart;  on  its  repeal  the  temperance  advocates 
began  to  press  for  a  "Maine  law"  prohibition; 
but  the  slavery  question  pushed  temperance  in  the 
background    for    two    generations;    and    Illinois 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads         205 

saloons  continued  to  reflect  the  lawlessness  of 
pioneer  days  till  our  own  times  have  seen  the 
desperate  device  of  barring  the  use  of  alcoholic 
beverages.  The  New  Englander  fought  with  the 
German  and  Irishman  over  Sunday  observance 
also;  but  on  this  question  for  the  time  being  the 
Puritan  sabbath  came  off  second  best. 

Some  of  the  problems  lay  deeper  yet  in  the 
future.  The  very  massing  of  population  in  the 
cities  was  a  sign  that  the  day  of  opportunity  for 
the  landless  man  to  become  landed  was  passing. 
As  early  as  1852  the  grant  to  the  Illinois  Central 
and  the  seizing  on  the  public  lands  by  speculators 
had  produced  an  anti-land  monopoly  agitation. 
In  the  middle  thirties  a  man  of  strength,  sobriety 
and  industry  in  the  Northwest  could  earn  in  a  year 
or  two  the  one  hundred  dollars  that  was  the  price 
of  a  half  quarter  section  of  government  land. 
Now,  on  wages  of  seventy-five  cents  to  one  dol- 
lar a  day  in  cities  where  rents  were  high  there 
was  no  such  chance.  Men  worked  ten  and  twelve 
hour  days  and  found  when  wheat  was  one  dollar 
and  forty  cents  a  bushel  they  could  not  feed  or 
clothe  their  families;  the  hard  winters  of  1854 
and  1857  brought  suffering.  The  democracy  of 
Wentworth  and  Douglas  had  sought  to  relieve 
these  men  by  a  homestead  act,  but  that  act  passed 
in  1862  was  to  be  the  work  of  the  republicans. 
Meanwhile,   the  high  prices  of  the   Civil  War 


206  The  Story  of  Illinois 

finally  brought  trades  unionism  to  Chicago,  strikes 
and  the  modern  phase  of  the  struggle  of  labor 
and  capital. 

Other  problems  were  on  their  way.  The  simple 
rural  democracy  of  the  forties  had  regarded  banks 
as  the  work  of  the  evil  one.  Beaten  in  the  election 
for  the  constitutional  convention  of  1847,  while 
they  had  excluded  a  banking  clause  from  their 
constitution  they  had  admitted  a  proviso  that  a 
system  of  state  banking  with  notes  secured  by 
bonds  might  be  submitted  to  popular  vote.  The 
constant  demand  of  the  new  industrial  order  for 
banking  facilities  was  too  strong.  Men  like 
George  Smith  of  the  Wisconsin  Fire  and  Marine 
Insurance  Company  did  a  prosperous  business  in 
note  issue  at  Chicago  in  defiance  of  law.  In  1851 
the  state  legislature  over  the  governor's  veto  sub- 
mitted to  the  people  of  the  state  a  banking  law 
allowing  institutions  to  incorporate  and  to  issue 
notes  secured  by  Federal  or  state  bonds.  The 
passage  of  the  measure  by  a  vote  of  37,650  to 
31,413  was  one  more  sign  that  the  old  order  was 
changing. 

The  system  for  some  years  worked  with  fair 
success.  Some  banks  fell  by  the  wayside  in  panics 
of  1854  and  1857;  but  the  great  majority  stood 
till  the  secession  of  the  Southern  states  depreci- 
ated the  value  of  their  bonds.  Then  bank  after 
bank  gave  up  the  struggle.     In  May,  1861,  notes 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads         207 

of  fifteen  banks  were  depreciated  to  fifty  cents, 
fifty-three  went  from  sixty  to  ninety  cents  on  the 
dollar,  and  only  six  at  par.  The  issue  of  the 
greenbacks,  the  National  Banking  Act,  and  its 
tax  on  the  notes  of  state  banks,  left  the  surviving 
banks  to  carry  on  a  strict  banking  business  without 
issue  until  the  system  of  state  supervised  banking 
was  adopted  in  1887. 

The  railroads  themselves  brought  the  worst 
problem  of  all  on  the  unsuspecting  community 
that  welcomed  them  so  innocently.  From  the  be- 
ginning the  eastern  capitalists  who  in  most  cases 
had  subscribed  the  majority  of  the  capital  assumed 
control.  The  representatives  of  the  minority 
holdings  in  Illinois,  and  of  subscriptions  by  towns 
and  counties  were  powerless.  Even  in  the  fifties 
rates  were  manipulated  to  favor  certain  locali- 
ties. After  1 86 1  the  Mississippi  competition  was 
shut  off  by  the  Civil  War,  and  the  railroads  pro- 
ceeded to  send  their  rates  for  passengers  and 
freight  up  to  unheard-of  figures.  This,  with  dis- 
crimination in  favor  of  long  hauls  over  short, 
ownership  and  monopoly  by  railroads  of  grain 
elevators,  added  to  the  difficulty  in  ways  but  too 
familiar.  Men  proposed  additional  canals  to 
offer  competition;  canals  from  the  Illinois  to 
Rock  Island,  a  ship  canal  along  the  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Canal.  Failing  these  things  they  sought 
to  establish  competing  lines.     In  1868  the  Paxton 


20 8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Record  protested  that  at  railroad  rates  wheat 
could  be  teamed  to  Chicago  at  a  profit.  The  regu- 
lation of  the  railroad  by  state  or  nation  was  for 
the  future.  This  was  its  day  of  power  to  be 
arrogantly  used. 

The  solution  of  the  problems  of  the  fifties  was 
made  more  difficult  by  the  change  that  had  come 
over  Illinois  politics;  the  day  of  small  things  had 
passed.  Eastern  capitalists  had  much  to  seek  at 
the  hands  of  the  state  government;  the  calling  of 
special  sessions  of  the  assembly,  railroad  and  cor- 
poration charters;  favors  in  the  funding  or  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  state's  indebtedness;  and 
certain  groups  were  ready  to  check  each  other's 
schemes  by  means  none  too  scrupulous.  Stories 
of  bribery  and  counter  bribery  of  state  executives 
and  state  legislatures  circulated  freely;  with  how 
much  truth  it  is  impossible  to  say. 

Beyond  question,  however,  a  new  type  of  men 
were  coming  to  the  front  in  politics;  men  who  as 
financial  associates  or  legal  advisers  had  private 
relations  with  interests  with  which  they  might 
have  to  have  public  dealings.  Governor  French, 
1 846-1 852,  though  opposed  to  banks,  was  an  in- 
veterate speculator  in  lands  enhanced  in  value  by 
railroads,  and  in  his  official  position  had  to  favor 
by  his  acts  one  or  the  other  of  rival  railroad  in- 
terests; Governor  Bissell  had  been  a  railroad  at- 
torney and  was  accused  of  formerly  driving  sharp 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads         209 

bargains  for  his  clients  with  the  state. 

Most  significant  is  the  career  of  Governor  Joel 
A.  Matteson,  elected  governor  in  1852  as  a 
supporter  of  the  banking  system.  He  had  made 
a  speculative  fortune  from  small  beginnings,  was 
interested  financially  and  as  an  official  in  both  the 
Illinois  Central  and  Alton  Railroads,  was  accused 
of  using  money  and  the  influence  of  those  roads 
and  of  colonizing  voters  to  aid  Douglas  in  1858 
and  i860;  was  caught  in  1859  defrauding  the 
state  in  the  refunding  of  its  indebtedness  and  com- 
pelled ultimately  to  reimburse  the  state.  Though 
his  case  was  an  extreme  one  the  taint  of  corrup- 
tion hangs  on  much  of  the  politics  of  the  period. 
Even  where  no  actual  corruption  existed,  politics 
and  business  alike  seem  often  leavened  by  sharp 
practice  that  steered  close  to  fraud  and  dishonesty. 
The  nature  of  men  was  no  more  debased  than 
formerly,  but  temptations  were  greater. 

The  problems  that  arose  in  the  era  of  the  rail- 
roads had  almost  swamped  the  available  govern- 
mental machinery.  At  the  outset  of  the  period 
Illinois  had  adopted  the  new  constitution  of  1848. 
That  of  181 8  had  placed  practically  all  the  legis- 
lative power,  and  very  much  of  the  appointive 
power,  in  the  hands  of  the  legislature;  had  left 
the  supreme  judiciary  of  1824  practically  to  hold 
for  life  or  good  behavior;  and  had  assigned  to  the 
executive  but  a  shadow  of  authority. 


210  The  Story  of  Illinois 

The  constitution  of  1848  was  the  work  of  an 
age  suspicious  of  government.  It  provided  that 
practically  all  elections,  even  judicial  ones,  were 
to  be  made  by  the  people.  It  left  the  governor  a 
veto  that  could  be  overridden  by  a  majority  vote, 
but  by  a  great  enumeration  of  prohibitions  sought 
to  bind  the  hands  of  the  state  legislature.  It  pro- 
vided for  popular  referendum  on  certain  subjects 
of  policy  and  by  limiting  salaries  of  officials  and 
the  pay  and  length  of  sessions  of  the  General  As- 
semblies sought  to  enforce  a  Jeffersonian  sim- 
plicity. 

The  framers  of  the  constitution  had  their  eyes 
on  the  age  that  was  passing  and  not  on  that  which 
was  entering.  Barely  was  their  work  adopted  be- 
fore its  defects  began  to  appear.  Officials  were 
insufficiently  paid;  General  Assemblies  in  sessions 
limited  to  a  few  weeks  had  to  deal  with  floods  of 
private  incorporation  acts  full  of  jokers  and  out- 
rageous provisions,  passed  literally  in  batches,  so 
that  they  could  be  neither  checked  nor  amended. 

All  through  the  fifties  a  new  constitution  was 
confidently  awaited;  when  a  convention  met  in 
1862  it  was  unfortunately  in  the  height  of  the  ex- 
citement of  the  Civil  War.  The  convention  was 
overwhelmingly  democratic.  The  constitution  it 
drew  up  prohibited  private  acts  of  incorporation, 
provided  that  all  future  charters  be  subject  to 
amendment  and  repeal,  prohibited  new  banks,  and 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads  211 

the  circulation  of  bank  notes  after  1866.  In 
homestead  exemption  and  mechanics  lien  clauses 
it  sought  to  appeal  to  the  poorer  classes.  Popu- 
lar excitement  was  raised  against  it,  because  of 
the  partisan  character  of  apportionment  in  it  and 
it  was  rejected  by  a  popular  majority  of  16,051. 

The  last  years  of  the  old  constitution  were  by 
far  the  worst.  The  legislative  session  of  1867, 
marked  by  an  appropriation  of  $3,000,000  for  a 
new  state  capitol,  the  establishment  of  a  peni- 
tentiary in  southern  Illinois,  and  the  location  of 
the  state  university  at  Urbana,  was  an  orgy  of 
log  rolling  with  charges  of  corruption  freely 
passed  on  all  sides.  The  financial  interests  that 
could  gain  or  lose  in  the  new  Illinois  by  franchises 
in  the  gift  of  the  legislature  were  too  powerful 
to  be  bridled. 

Private  bill  legislation  swelled  the  statute  books 
of  the  sixties  to  huge  proportions.  Corporations 
of  any  and  every  sort  could  and  did  buy  them- 
selves charters.  Governors  like  Palmer  in  vain 
interposed  the  veto  to  check  the  orgy. 

Threats  of  railroad  regulation  became  merely 
a  means  of  blackmail. 

Early  in  the  session  the  old  schemers,  anxious 
to  replenish  a  depleted  exchequer,  introduced  in 
the  senate  a  bill  for  an  act  to  regulate  the  pas- 
senger and  freight  tariff  on  railroads,  and  today 
it  passed  that  august  body.     Contrary  to  their 


212  The  Story  of  Illinois 

expectations,  the  railroads  did  not  imitate  Zacche- 
us  and  come  down,  but  they  could  not  recede  from 
their  position.  It  is  a  matter  of  grave  doubt 
whether  the  legislature  can  place  restrictions  upon 
those  companies  already  incorporated;  in  fact,  I 
believe  it  is  generally  conceded  that  the  only  appli- 
cation the  proposed  law  can  have  is  to  the  com- 
panies hereafter  incorporated.  To  Southern 
Illinois  this  is  a  most  unjust  and  iniquitous  meas- 


Decorum  passed  along  with  decency. 

"  Dignity  in  our  Senate, "  said  the  Aurora  Bea- 
con, March  21,1867,  "is  thrown  to  the  dogs.  A 
spirit  of  innocent  playfulness  pervades  that  insti- 
tution, that  is  like  Artemus  Ward's  Kangaroo, 
'highly  amoosin.'  In  the  first  place  the  Speaker 
is  a  very  interesting  animal.  He  handles  himself 
with  a  great  deal  of  grace  and  agility.  The  way 
he  uses  the  gavel  would  do  credit  to  a  stone  cutter; 
and    the    way  he    don't   preserve    order   would 

astonish    a    country    school    master 

The  twenty-five  senators  are  a  very  nice  body  of 
men.  They  have  a  free  and  easy  way  with  them 
that  is  decidedly  refreshing.  In  order  to  dispatch 
business  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  save  the  State 
expense,  they  usually  omit  the  useless  ceremony 
of  addressing  the  Speaker,  and  ordinarily  from 
six  to  ten  of  them  have  the  floor,  and  all  speak 
at  once Those  who  are  not  en- 
gaged in  making  speeches,  usually  employ  their 
massive  talents  in  manufacturing  paper  balls  and 

1  Cairo  Evening  Bulletin,  January  16,  1869. 


The  Coming  of  the  Railroads  213 

throwing  them  at  each  other,  or  in  occasionally 
varying  the  proceedings  by  hurling  books  at  the 
speaker's  or  some  Senator's  head."     .... 

Under  the  conditions  of  the  new  era  the  Consti- 
tution of  1848  had  broken  down;  once  the  issues 
of  the  Civil  War  were  settled  a  new  Constitution 
was  inevitable. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  BEGINNINGS   OF  THE  SLAVERY   ISSUE,    I  837- 

1856 

SO  TERRIBLY  was  the  generation  that  fol- 
lowed the  Civil  War,  impressed  by  the 
mighty  storm  that  shook  the  foundations  of  the 
Union  that  in  writing  the  history  of  the  years 
before  i860  they  made  the  slavery  question  a 
cloud  menacing  ever  since  the  Compromise  of 
1820.  In  doing  so  they  unwittingly  distorted  the 
facts.  The  slavery  question  in  the  thirties  was  a 
cloud  no  larger  than  a  man's  hand  and  went  al- 
most unnoticed  in  the  Illinois  politics  of  the 
period;  not  till  the  forties  did  it  become  a  danger 
to  be  reckoned  with;  not  until  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  in  1854  had  led  to  a  split 
in  the  democratic  party  and  its  defeat  in  the  state 
it  had  controlled  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  did 
men  dream  of  the  terror  of  the  years,  185 8-1 865. 
The  defeat  by  popular  vote  in  1824  of  the  pro- 
posal to  call  a  constitutional  convention  that  might 
introduce  slavery  into  Illinois  was  followed  by 
years  of  profound  quiet  on  the  slavery  issue. 
Kidnapping  of  free  negroes  resident  in  the  state 
attracted  little  attention;  the  free  negro,  most  men 

214 


The  Beginnings  of  the  Slavery  Issue  215 

agreed,  was  a  nuisance.  The  supreme  court  of 
the  state  slowly  defined  the  rights  or  lack  of  rights 
of  the  negro  and  the  servant  indentured  under  the 
old  territorial  laws  of  1807  and  181 2.  The  ver- 
dict in  general  was  that  whatever  validity  the 
indenture  system  had  was  given  it  by  the  constitu- 
tion of  18 1 8.  Time  did  its  work.  By  the  fifties 
the  last  traces  of  slavery  among  the  French  in- 
habitants and  the  indentures  of  the  territorial 
period  had  disappeared. 

The  slavery  question  first  excited  passing  atten- 
tion with  the  rise  of  Garrisonian  Abolitionism 
and  the  question  of  excluding  abolition  news- 
papers from  the  mails  and  the  gagging  in  Con- 
gress of  abolition  petitions.  The  Illinois 
congressmen  on  these  points  were  generally  ortho- 
dox. The  state  legislature  in  1837  delivered 
itself  of  its  opinion  on  the  subject  in  forcible  terms 
in  a  set  of  resolutions.  Only  seven  votes  were 
cast  against  it;  two  of  the  voters,  Dan  Stone  and 
Abraham  Lincoln,  spread  on  the  journals  of  the 
House  a  moderate  protest.  From  the  beginning 
Lincoln  was  a  hater  of  slavery. 

Abolitionism,  however,  had  already  reached 
Illinois.  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy,  a  young  New 
England  Presbyterian  minister,  in  1833,  had 
begun  editing  a  denominational  paper  in  St.  Louis. 
Driven  to  the  Illinois  side  of  the  river  by  mob 
violence,  he  set  up  at  Alton  the  Alton  Observer 


216  The  Story  of  Illinois 

assailing  in  Miltonic  invective  with  the  biting 
scorn  of  the  Puritan  every  vice  and  sin.  Inevit- 
ably he  turned  to  the  subject  of  slavery.  In  the 
thirties  northern  men,  however  much  they  might 
disapprove  it  in  the  abstract,  believed  the  criticism 
of  the  peculiar  institution  of  the  south  fraught 
with  danger  to  the  union  and  therefore  to  be  dis- 
countenanced. Lovejoy  could  be  discountenanced 
neither  by  rebuke  nor  by  threats  of  violence.  Two 
of  his  presses  were  destroyed  by  mobs.  The  fear 
of  personal  violence  for  him  drove  his  wife  to 
the  verge  of  insanity.  His  death  he  knew  would 
leave  his  family  destitute.  Yet  driven  by  a  force 
stronger  than  himself  he  went  on.  He  procured 
still  a  third  press,  and  while  defending  it  against 
a  mob  he  fell,  November  7,  1837,  rifle  in  hand. 

The  news  of  the  tragedy  rang  through  the 
union,  binding  the  name  of  Lovejoy  forever  to 
the  name  of  Alton.  New  Englanders  believed  in 
later  years  the  town  was  accursed  for  Lovejoy's 
blood.  In  Illinois,  however,  though  men  were  in- 
dignant at  the  violence  by  which  Lovejoy  had  met 
his  end,  the  vast  majority  disapproved  of  the 
course  that  had  brought  him  to  it.  His  slayers 
went  unpunished;  the  men  associated  with  him  in 
the  defense  of  his  press  were  indicted,  "  for  unlaw- 
fully defending  a  certain  warehouse."  And  the 
Baptist  organizer,  John  Mason  Peck,  himself  a 
New  Englander,  who  had  hated  the  uncompromis- 


The  Beginnings  of  the  Slavery  Issue  217 

ing  young  Presbyterian,  believed  that  by  refrain- 
ing from  public  denunciation  of  the  murder  he 
had  brought  about  a  blessed  outpouring  of  divine 
spirit  in  the  form  of  a  gracious  revival. 

The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the 
church.  Lovejoy  had  taken  the  new  school  side 
in  the  Presbyterian  schism,  from  distaste  of  the 
proslavery  alliance  of  the  old  school.  The  eve 
of  his  death  had  seen  at  Alton  the  organization  of 
a  state  antislavery  society.  As  the  standard  fell 
from  Lovejoy's  hand  it  was  caught  up  by  the  old 
antislavery  editor,  Benjamin  Lundy,  who  published 
at  Hennepin  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipa- 
tion. Lundy,  that  he  might  write  as  he  thought, 
cultivated  a  little  farm.  A  wheat  harvest  in  1839 
taxed  his  strength  overmuch  and  a  fever  silenced 
his  journal  forever.  But  a  year  later  the  Lowell 
Genius  of  Liberty  replaced  it;  within  three  years, 
its  name  changed  to  the  Western  Citizen,  it  was 
removed  to  Chicago,  flinging  defiantly  to  the  wind 
on  its  headline  the  haughty  challenge  by  which 
the  Puritan  in  age  aft.er  age  has  made  weak  things 
to  confound  the  mighty  "  The  Supremacy  of  God 
and  the  Equality  of  Man." 

The  antislavery  movement  grew  fast  in  north- 
ern Illinois.  Antislavery  societies  spread,  Con- 
gregational churches  wrote  the  doctrine  in  their 
confessions  of  faith,  and  the  Liberty  party  was 
organized  in  Illinois  in  1840.    Garrisonian  aboli- 


2i 8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

tion  had  demanded  the  centering  of  attention  on 
the  crime  of  slavery,  and  passive  resistance  to  it; 
Garrison  himself  ■  decried  all  participation  in 
politics.  The  liberty  group  on  the  other  hand 
prepared  to  fight  the  evil  with  the  citizen's  weap- 
on, the  ballot.  Many  men  in  it  looked  on  the 
contest  with  slavery  as  but  one  phase  of  a  con- 
test for  human  rights  and  liberty  for  all  men. 
Intellectually  such  men  were  not  far  removed 
from  democrats  like  John  Wentworth,  who,  in- 
terested in  human  rights  as  against  property 
rights,  believed  they  could  only  be  maintained  by 
the  alliance  with  the  democracy  of  the  South. 
Meanwhile  Wentworth  recognized  that  the  ideas 
of  the  Liberty  party  were  working  through  New 
Englanders  both  democrats  and  whigs,  and  fore- 
bore  to  antagonize  it.  By  1846  the  Liberty  party 
held  the  balance  of  power  in  thirteen  counties  of 
northern  Illinois. 

The  slavery  issue  entered  national  politics  in 
the  question  of  territorial  expansion.  Dema- 
gogues like  John  Reynolds  sensed  the  popular  en- 
thusiasm in  Illinois  at  the  prospect  of  expansion 
and  of  war  with  the  old  enemy. 

"  Mr.  President,"  said  he  in  a  speech  built 
around  the  twin  ideas  of  the  Annexation  of  Cuba 
and  war  with  Great  Britain,  "  as  Hannibal  swore 
eternal  hostility  to  the  Romans,  so  I  swear  eternal 
hostility  to  monarchies,  especially  to  them  that 


The  Beginnings  of  the  Slavery  Issue  219 

dont  let  us  alone.  I  have  nothing  to  say  against 
the  English  people  but  to  their  cursed  government 
I  have  sworn  war.  It  is  generally  the  case,  Mr. 
President,  that  when  a  man  is  cavorting  against 
another;  that  the  cavorter  is  wrong  and  the  cavor- 
tee  is  right,  but  when  I  am  cavorting  against  the 
English  government  I  am  not  cavorting  for  noth- 
ing. I  have  heard  my  father  tell  of  their  oppres- 
sion and  tyranny.  I  know  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
Irish  under  their  persecution  —  I  have  read  of 
their  butcheries  in  China  and  other  parts  of  Asia. 
I  have  read  of  their  paying  savages  in  the  revolu- 
tion for  the  scalps  of  our  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren "     .     .     .     -1  and  so  ad  nauseam! 

The  democratic  platform  of  1844  demanding 
the  reannexation  of  Texas  and  the  reoccupation 
of  Oregon  voiced  Illinois  sentiment.  True,  there 
was  a  gasp  of  disappointment  traceable  in  the 
state  newspapers  when  Polk  instead  of  Van  Buren 
was  the  democratic  nominee;  but  they  loyally  set 
themselves  to  elect  him.  Then  came  the  disap- 
pointments in  his  policy.  He  vetoed  river  and 
harbor  improvement  bills  of  vital  importance  to 
northern  Illinois;  he  proposed  a  tax  on  tea  and 
coffee,  the  luxuries  of  the  white  laborer.  Worst  of 
all,  he  compromised  with  Great  Britain  for  a  half 
of  Oregon,  while  he  drew  the  sword  on  Mexico 
in  behalf  of  the  extreme  boundary  claims  of 
Texas.    To  avoid  war  with  the  ancient  enemy  he 

1  Illinois  State  Register,  Jan.  17,  1846. 


220  The  Story  of  Illinois 

sacrificed  territory  destined  to  be  the  abode  of 
freedom,  while  he  shed  American  blood  to  spread 
more  slave  plantations  over  the  free  soil  of  Mexi- 
co. Northern  democrats  like  Wentworth  be- 
lieved that  southern  slavery  dictated  Polk's 
foreign  policy,  and  reared  in  the  party  harness. 

In  the  Mexican  War,  Illinois  had  her  full  share. 
Of  her  regiments  the  First  and  Second  under  Col- 
onels Hardin  and  Bissell  fought  at  Buena  Vista, 
where  Hardin  —  "our  best  whig  man"  Lincoln 
called  him,  fell  at  the  head  of  his  regiment.  The 
Third  and  Fourth  regiments  served  under  Scott 
with  James  Shields  as  their  brigadier  at  Vera 
Cruz  and  Cerro  Gordo.  Two  more  regiments 
served  in  Texas  and  on  the  Santa  Fe  expedition. 
Illinois  soldiers  were  magnificently  brave  and  mag- 
nificently undisciplined.  General  Wool  said  to 
Hardin,  "I  will  take  away  your  commission,  sir.', 
"  By  God,  you  can't  do  it,  sir,"  said  Hardin.1 

Popular  enthusiasm  for  the  war  compelled  the 
whigs  in  Illinois  to  disguise  their  dislike  of  the 
grounds  on  which  it  was  made.  Lincoln  had  in- 
troduced in  Congress  resolutions  expressing  a 
doubt  as  to  whether  the  first  American  blood  had 
not  been  shed  on  a  spot  beyond  the  American 
border;  and  the  nickname  of  "  Spot "  Lincoln  was 
fastened  on  him  by  the  democrats  to  imply  that 
he  had  refused  to  vote  supplies  for  the  army. 

1  Pease,  Frontier  State,  p.  402. 


The  Beginnings  of  the  Slavery  Issue  221 

Another  Illinois  whig  in  words  later  famous, 
cynically  remarked  that  he  had  ruined  himself 
politically  by  opposing  the  War  of  1812;  and 
that  thereafter  he  was  for  "war,  pestilence  and 
famine." 

The  immediate  answer  on  the  part  of  the  north 
to  Polk's  war  in  Mexico  was  the  Wilmot  Proviso 
—  that  in  any  territory  acquired  from  Mexico 
slavery  should  be  prohibited.  Wentworth  en- 
dorsed it;  so  did  the  northern  democrats  of  Illi- 
nois generally.  A  River  and  Harbor  Convention 
held  in  Chicago  in  1847  in  the  interests  of  forc- 
ing adequate  federal  appropriations  to  river  and 
harbor  improvement,  marked  how  close  Went- 
worth was  to  rebellion  against  his  party.  Lincoln 
was  made  authority  for  the  statement  that  the 
administration  had  issued  orders  to  defeat  him 
even  though  a  whig  should  be  elected.  Went- 
worth stopped  at  the  brink  of  party  revolt.  He 
professed  to  believe  that  the  nomination  of  Lewis 
Cass  for  the  Presidency,  even  on  a  platform  with- 
out the  Proviso  or  river  and  harbor  improvement 
would  set  all  straight.  But  1848  was  the  year 
of  the  Free  Soil  revolt  in  the  democratic  party 
and  the  Free  Soil  independent  candidacy  of  Mar- 
tin Van  Buren.  Cass  went  down  in  defeat  before 
General  Zachary  Taylor,  hero  of  the  Mexican 
War,  slaveholder,  and  whig  nominee  for  the 
Presidency.    Illinois  remained  democratic,  but  the 


222  The  Story  of  Illinois 

party  in  the  Chicago  district  especially  was 
splintered  by  the  Free  Soil  defection. 

The  Presidential  election  of  1848  settled  noth- 
ing of  the  slavery  difficulty.  The  question  of  the 
disposition  of  the  spoils  of  Mexico :  whether  Cali- 
fornia should  be  received  in  the  Union  as  a  free 
state;  whether  the  territories  to  be  organized  in 
the  southwest  should  be  free  or  slave  threatened 
to  disrupt  the  Union.  Southerners  like  Calhoun 
were  calculating  the  value  of  the  union  to  the 
South,  talking  secession,  and  affirming  that  slavery 
could  constitutionally  be  excluded  from  not  an 
inch  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States.  North- 
ern men  were  insisting  that  there  be  no  further 
compromises  with  slavery;  that  the  peculiar  insti- 
tution might  be  tolerated  where  it  was  already 
but  not  elsewhere. 

To  settle  this  question  Henry  Clay  proposed 
the  compromise  of  1850;  admission  of  California 
as  a  free  state,  organization  of  Utah  and  New 
Mexico  without  mention  of  slavery,  and  a  fugi- 
tive slave  law.  When  the  compromise  first  offered 
by  Clay  in  the  form  of  a  single  measure  had  failed, 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  succeeded  in  getting  the  pro- 
visions adopted  in  the  Senate  one  by  one.  The 
Illinois  delegation  in  the  House,  Richardson  and 
McClernand  in  particular,  assisted  in  the  passage 
of  the  compromise.  The  Illinois  senators,  Doug- 
las and  Shields,  were  compelled  by  instruction  of 


The  Beginnings  of  the  Slavery  Issue  223 

the  state  legislature  to  vote  for  the  Wilmot  Pro- 
viso; Wentworth  and  E.  D.  Baker  alone  of  the 
Illinois  delegation  did  so  in  the  house.  The  final 
passage  of  the  compromise  set  Illinois  forward 
as  the  savior  of  the  Union;  and  Stephen  A.  Doug- 
las, her  brilliant  young  senior  senator,  stood  forth 
as  the  representative  of  the  union  sentiment  of 
the  West. 

In  northern  Illinois  sentiment  had  been  divided 
between  sentiment  for  the  Proviso  and  sentiment 
for  the  Union.  The  dread  of  danger  to  the  Union 
prevailed.  Douglas,  returning  from  Washington 
to  Chicago  on  one  of  the  great  triumphs  of  his 
career,  October  23,  won  over  a  hostile  meeting  to 
resolutions  in  support  of  the  compromise  as  neces- 
sary to  the  Union.  The  Free  Soil  strength  passed 
as  suddenly  as  it  arose;  and  the  great  majority  of 
party  men  in  Illinois  accepted  the  compromise; 
but  the  democrats  found  it  expedient  to  nominate 
for  governor  in  1852,  Joel  A.  Matteson,  a  pro- 
tege of  Wentworth,  at  this  time  supposed  to  be 
so  decidedly  anti-slavery  that  a  radical  like  Jona- 
than B.  Turner  was  ready  to  vote  for  him. 

In  1852  Illinois  offered  a  candidate  for  the 
national  democratic  nomination  in  Douglas,  the 
champion  of  the  Union  and  the  savior  of  the  com- 
promise of  1850.  He  was  a  young  man's  candi- 
date; but  The  Democratic  Review,  his  national 
organ,  was  too  outspoken  against  "old-fogyism" 


224  The  Story  of  Illinois 

in  the  party;  and  the  old  fogies  had  their  revenge 
in  the  nomination  of  Franklin  Pierce.  Pierce 
easily  carried  Illinois,  but  discontent  in  the  north- 
ern districts  with  the  proslavery  attitude  of  his 
party  elected  to  congress  three  whigs  pledged  to 
free  soil,  and  again  elected  John  Wentworth  in 
the  Chicago  district  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  his 
opposition  to  the  democratic  platform  on  the 
point  of  slavery  was  well  known.  The  passage 
by  the  General  Assembly  in  1853,  in  accord  with 
the  state  constitution,  of  an  act1  allowing  free 
blacks  who  entered  the  state  to  be  sold  into  terms 
of  servitude  aroused  indignation  among  democrats 
and  whigs  alike.  It  was  said  less  than  half  a 
dozen  papers  in  the  state  openly  approved  the  law. 
With  the  inauguration  of  Pierce  in  1853,  the 
old  issues  of  politics  seemed  worn  out.  Regular 
democrats  wished  to  keep  away  from  the  issues 
of  the  compromise  of  1850.  Bank,  tariff  and  sub- 
treasury  seemed  dead.  Douglas  and  the  western 
democrats  were  pushing  a  graduation  act  actually 
passed  in  1854  selling  unsold  lands  for  as  little 
as  twelve  and  one-half  cents  an  acre;  they  were 
advocates  of  a  homestead  measure;  but  they  could 
hardly  commit  their  party  to  it.  Douglas  was  en- 
deavoring to  get  rid  of  the  river  and  harbor  issue 
that  was  perplexing  the  party  in  Illinois  by  pro- 
posing the  levy  of  tonnage  duties  for  local  internal 

1  Drawn  by  John  A.  Logan,  Chicago  Tribune,  Jan.  16,  1865. 


The  Beginnings  of  the  Slavery  Issue  225 

improvements  at  the  place  of  collection;  above  all 
he  was  for  expansion;  for  a  Pacific  railroad  for 
the  extension  of  white  settlement  to  the  regions 
of  the  Upper  Missouri.  This  led  him  to  the  fatal 
Kansas  Nebraska  Bill  and  to  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  that  split  his  party  and  the 
union. 

The  motives  of  the  man  responsible  for  the 
Kansas  Nebraska  Act  and  the  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise  have  been  speculated  over  by 
historians  for  almost  three-quarters  of  a  century; 
and  historians  have  as  yet  come  to  no  agreement. 
Was  it  a  damnable  betrayal  of  the  interests  of 
the  free  North,  opening  the  Great  Plains,  north  of 
the  1820  line  of  360  30'  to  slavery,  and  designed 
to  purchase  the  vote  of  the  slave-holding  south 
for  the  Presidency?  Was  it  a  bargain  in  which 
the  North  got  the  undoubted  advantage  of  the  lo- 
cation of  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  with  its  ter- 
minals in  the  North,  in  return  for  the  concession  to 
the  South  of  the  empty  right  to  carry  slaves  to  a 
territory  where  nature  had  decreed  that  slavery 
could  not  thrive?  Was  the  repeal  of  the  com- 
promise of  1820  the  fruit  of  factional  warfare  in 
Missouri?  Did  Douglas  sacrifice  it  on  the  altar 
of  opening  the  territories  to  settlement?  Or  did 
Douglas  really  believe  that  the  doctrine  of  popu- 
lar sovereignty — that  right  of  the  people  of  the 
territory  to  determine  untrammeled  by  congres- 


226  The  Story  of  Illinois 

sional  action  p#ast  or  present  the  conditions  of 
their  life  —  was  a  carrying  to  new  heights  of  the 
old  frontier  democracy  of  Jackson?  Mortal  man 
can  only  surmise. 

At  all  events  late  in  1853  Douglas  introduced 
in  the  senate  his  bill  for  the  organization  of  Kan- 
sas and  Nebraska  Territories,  with  its  provision 
for  popular  choice  in  the  territory  in  the  terri- 
torial stage  between  freedom  and  slavery.  Later 
he  admitted  the  amendment,  repealing  the  part 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820  that  forever 
prohibited  slavery  in  the  Louisiana  purchase 
above  360  30'.  Despite  opposition  from  north- 
ern whigs  and  some  northern  democrats,  he  and 
his  chief  lieutenant  in  the  house,  William  A.  Rich- 
ardson, congressman  from  the  Quincy  district  and 
chairman  of  the  House  committee  on  territories, 
drove  the  Kansas  Nebraska  act  through.  His 
colleague  in  the  senate,  Shields,  supported  him; 
but  in  the  house  the  four  whig  congressmen,  with 
two  democrats,  John  Wentworth  and  William 
H.  Bissell,  a  majority  of  the  delegation  opposed 
it.  By  the  time  the  measure  had  finally  passed 
the  Northwest  was  all  in  a  flame. 

The  Republican  party  had  its  beginning  in  these 
days  in  the  coalescence  of  whigs  and  anti-slavery 
or  anti-Nebraska  democrats  with  more  radical 
anti-slavery  groups  into  a  new  party  based  on 
opposition  to  slavery  in  the  territories.     In  the 


The  Beginnings  of  the  Slavery  Issue  227 

states  surrounding  Illinois  the  reaction  was  almost 
instantaneous.  In  Illinois  it  took  a  year  or  two. 
The  whigs  generally  opposed  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  from  the  first;  so  did  the 
anti-Nebraska  democrats;  but  both  held  aloof 
from  the  comparatively  insignificant  republican 
party,  which  was  at  first  made  up  largely  of  the 
more  extreme  free  soil  or  abolitionist  elements. 
In  1856  the  extreme  abolitionist  elements  with- 
drew; a  great  part  of  the  anti-Nebraska  demo- 
crats entered  it,  and  most  of  the  whigs,  save  the 
group  that  rallied  round  the  anti-Catholic  anti- 
foreign  element  to  form  the  Know  Nothing  party 
and  those  who  sought  refuge  in  the  democratic 
ranks. 

At  the  beginning  the  leadership  of  the  Illinois 
democratic  party  was  against  Douglas.  Even  old 
wheel  horses  whose  political  careers  were  mainly 
in  the  past,  like  Sidney  Breese  and  John  Reynolds, 
were  anti-Nebraska,  perhaps  because  they  hoped 
for  a  return  to  power  from  Douglas'  overthrow. 
But  the  ablesj:  men  of  Douglas'  own  political  gen- 
eration, John  Wentworth,  John  A.  McClernand, 
William  H.  Bissell,  Lyman  Trumbull,  and  the 
best  of  the  younger  men,  such  as  John  M.  Palmer, 
were  also  in  the  opposition.  September  first 
Douglas  tried  for  hours  to  defend  the  bill  before 
a  howling  Chicago  mob,  finally  shouting,  "  It  is 
now  Sunday  morning  —  I'll  go  to  church,  and  you 


228  The  Story  of  Illinois 


may  go  to  Hell !  "  *  Newspapers,  public  meetings 
without  regard  to  party,  protested.  It  was  small 
satisfaction  under  the  circumstances  that  county 
conventions  in  central  and  southern  Illinois  gener- 
ally endorsed  the  Nebraska  doctrine. 

As  early  as  March  18,   i854>  at  Rockford  a 
mass   meeting   resolved  that   "The    free   States 
should  now  blot  out  all  former  political  distinc- 
tions by  uniting  themselves  into  one  great  North- 
ern  Party."2     The  movement  was  slow   in   de- 
veloping.    The  anti-Nebraska  democrats  hoped 
to  control  their  party  on  the  issue  and  not  divide 
it.      The  whigs   tried  to   maintain  their  distinct 
organization  on  anti-Nebraska  lines  and  capital- 
ize the  issue  to  carry  the  state  they  had  been  seek- 
ing in  vain  for  twenty  years  to  win.     At  Ottawa 
on  August  i  the  extreme  antislavery  elements  in 
imitation  of  those   in  Wisconsin  and   Michigan 
first  assumed  the  name  republican,  but  when  a 
republican    convention    was    held    at    Springfield 
October  4  and  5,  it  was  distinctly  of  a  free  soil 
cast.    Lincoln  with  his  eyes  on  the  senatorship  at 
whig  hands  adroitly  stayed  away  and  failed  to  act 
on  a  state  committee  to  which  the  convention  ap- 
pointed him. 

With  the  anti-Nebraska  elements  holding  aloof 
from  each  other  the   congressional  elections   of 

iCole,  Era  of  the  Civil  War,  p.  132. 
2  Rock  River  Democrat,  March  28,  1854. 


The  Beginnings  of  the  Slavery  Issue  229 

1854  were  a  strange  affair.  In  the  Chicago  dis- 
trict there  was  a  four-cornered  race  between  an 
anti-Nebraska  democrat  endorsed  by  Wentworth, 
a  Nebraska  democrat,  a  whig  and  a  republican, 
James  H.  Woodworth,  the  republican,  winning. 
Elihu  B.  Washburne  and  Jesse  O.  Norton,  anti- 
Nebraska  whigs,  were  endorsed  by  the  republi- 
cans and  elected  in  the  first  and  third  districts.  In 
the  Alton  district  Lyman  Trumbull,  running  as  an 
anti-Nebraska  democrat  with  whig  support  beat 
Foulke,  convention  nominee  and  a  Nebraska 
democrat.  James  Knox  was  reelected  in  the  Pe- 
oria district.  But  in  the  Springfield,  Quincy,  De- 
catur, and  Cairo  districts  Douglas  or  Nebraska 
democrats  were  successful.  The  general  assem- 
bly elected  in  the  fall  was  anti-Nebraska,  and  it 
had  to  elect  a  senator.  Lincoln  nearly  succeeded. 
He  had  the  votes  of  the  members  of  the  whig 
antecedents,  but  could  not  gain  the  necessary  anti- 
Nebraska  democrats,  and  finally,  rather  than  see 
Matteson  elected,  he  threw  the  whig  strength  to 
the  anti-Nebraska  democrat,  Lyman  Trumbull. 

The  election  of  1854  had  made  evident  a  sharp 
sectional  division  in  the  state. 

"  In  the  Northern  half  of  Illinois"  said  the 
Chicago  Weekly  Democrat,  December  2,  1854, 
"not  a  Congressman  nor  member  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, nor  a  county  officer  friendly  to  the  Nebraska 
bill,  or  opposed  to  Harbor  and  River  Improve- 


230  The  Story  of  Illinois 

ments,  has  been  elected  to  any  office  this  year — 
Whilst  in  the  southern  half,  all  of  two-thirds  of 
the  men  elected  are  of  opposite  sentiments ! 

"  This  is  accounted  for  in  the  fact  that  the 
northern  half  of  Illinois  is  settled  generally  by 
emigrants  from  the  free  states,  whilst  the  southern 
half  is  settled  by  those  from  the  slave  states." 

For  a  year  or  two  there  was  political  chaos; 
and  it  was  the  opportunity  of  the  native  Amer- 
icans or  Know  Nothings.  They  represented  the 
old  anti-foreign  and  anti-Catholic  prejudices  of 
the  whigs  and  offered  a  shelter  for  members  of 
that  group  hard  pressed  to  decide  between  the 
anti-slavery  and  democratic  groupings.  The  ex- 
istence of  this  group  temporarily  helped  to  check 
a  movement  of  the  anti-slavery  foreign  groups 
such  as  the  Germans  from  the  democratic  party 
because  it  was  represented  to  them  that  the  anti- 
Nebraska  men  must  be  nativists.  Further,  they 
distrusted  the  New  England  republicans  in  north- 
ern Illinois  as  "  Maine  Law  men"  or  prohibition- 
ists. In  the  course  of  1855  schism  developed 
even  in  the  fraternal  ranks  of  the  Know  Nothings, 
a  more  liberal  group  known  by  the  cant  term  of 
"Jonathan"  being  anti-slavery  and  merely  anti- 
Catholic  as  distinguished  from  "  Sam,"  who  was 
inclined  to  be  Nebraska  and  anti-foreign  general- 
ly. Representing  a  prejudice  rather  than  a  prin- 
ciple there  was  little  stability  in  the  Know  Noth- 


The  Beginnings  of  the  Slavery  Issue  231 

ing  group. 

The  approach  of  the  presidential  year  com- 
pelled the  anti-Nebraska  democrats  to  choose 
finally  between  their  principles  and  their  party. 
In  convention  at  Decatur  the  anti-Nebraska  edi- 
tors of  the  state  reached  harmony  in  the  winter  of 
1856.  At  a  convention  held  at  Bloomington, 
May  29,  the  republican  party  was  formed.  Whigs 
like  Orville  H.  Browning  imparted  a  tone  of  con- 
servatism to  its  platform.  The  brains  and  con- 
science of  the  democratic  party,  Wentworth,  Koer- 
ner,  Bissell,  Trumbull,  John  M.  Palmer,  threw  in 
their  lot  with  the  new  party.  Breese,  Reynolds, 
McClernand  fell  back  into  the  old  line.  Save  for 
the  American  group  the  whigs  disappeared.  Some 
of  them,  such  as  E.  B.  Webb,  their  candidate  for 
Governor  in  1852,  J.  W.  Singleton,  and  R.  S. 
Blackwell,  joined  the  democrats.  At  last  the  lines 
were  clearly  drawn. 

The  Presidential  election  of  1856  was  hotly 
fought.  Buchanan  in  Illinois  was  barely  success- 
ful over  Fremont.  But  four  republican  and  four 
democratic  congressmen  were  elected,  and  the 
state  ticket  headed  by  William  H.  Bissell  was 
victorious  over  Richardson  and  the  democrats. 
For  the  first  time  since  party  lines  had  been  sharp- 
ly drawn  in  Illinois  the  democrats  had  been  de- 
feated in  a  state  election.  Sectional  parties  had 
been  formed  in  the  union,  and  had  taken  root  in 


232  The  Story  of  Illinois 

the  state  also.  A  sharp  geographical  line  divided 
republicans  and  democrats.  It  followed  the 
southern  boundaries  of  Henderson,  Warren, 
Knox,  Stark,  Marshall  counties,  and  swung  to  the 
south  to  include  McLean,  Logan,  Piatt  and  Coles. 
Tazewell,  Macon  and  Edgar  were  debatable;  re- 
publican outposts  in  the  south  lay  in  Edwards, 
Madison,  Bond  and  St.  Clair.  The  citadels  of 
the  two  parties  lay  respectively  in  a  group  of 
northern  counties  stretching  diagonally  northeast 
from  Henry  to  Du  Page  and  Lake  and  in  the 
old  democratic  bloc  between  the  Mississippi  and 
Wabash  Rivers. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  CLIMAX  OF  THE  SLAVERY  STRUGGLE  1856- 

1865 

OUT  of  the  Kansas  Nebraska  Act  came  the 
formation  of  the  republican  party;  on  the 
heels  of  the  Dred  Scott  Decision  and  the  Lecomp- 
ton  Constitution  followed  the  Civil  War.  Doug- 
las in  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  had 
lightly  unchained  the  demon  of  sectional  strife 
over  the  territories;  and  the  demon's  first 
act  had  been  to  tear  from  Douglas'  hand  the  best 
of  the  democracy  of  the  North.  The  appetite  of 
the  slaveholding  South  for  territorial  expansion 
had  been  roused;  and  vainly  did  Douglas  try  to 
appease  it  with  what  the  remnant  of  his  northern 
following  would  suffer  him  to  allow  it.  Trying 
desperately  to  keep  together  the  democrats  of 
North  and  South  by  some  possible  compromise, 
both  to  favor  his  own  ambitions  and  to  save  the 
party,  he  fought  his  losing  battle  magnificently, 
unscrupulously,  heroically.  In  the  end  he  saw 
the  prize  he  had  followed  so  long  escape  him, 
and  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  old  opponent,  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  Sinking  his  personal  ambitions  in 
his  love  for  the  Union  on  the  eve  of  a  civil  war 

133 


234  The  Story  of  Illinois 

such  as  the  world  had  never  seen  he  atoned  for 
much  of  the  sin  that  had  caused  it. 

Barely  had  Buchanan  been  inaugurated  in  1857 
when  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States 
handed  down  the  medley  of  divergent  opinions 
known  in  our  history  as  the  Dred  Scott  Decision. 
Starting  with  the  simple  question  as  to  whether  a 
slave  carried  to  a  free  state  and  to  a  territory 
made  free  by  the  Missouri  Compromise  was 
thereby  enfranchised  Chief  Justice  Taney  —  ap- 
parently with  a  majority  of  the  court  behind  him 
—  laid  down  among  other  dicta,  the  saying  that 
the  Missouri  Compromise  was  unlawful  and  that 
there  was  no  power  in  Congress  to  pass  a  law  for 
any  territory  which  forbade  a  master  to  carry 
his  slave  there  and  hold  him  in  bondage.  But  if 
this  were  true,  could  a  territorial  legislature, 
created  by  Congress  do  what  Congress  could  not 
do?  And  if  so  what  became  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty, the  right  of  the  people  of  a  territory  to 
decide  for  themselves  whether  they  would  have 
freedom  or  slavery? 

The  democrats  of  Illinois  hesitated  for  a  little 
as  to  what  course  they  would  pursue.  Then 
Douglas  came  back  from  Washington  and  taught 
his  followers  the  comforting  doctrine  that  the 
Decision  buttressed  popular  sovereignty;  for 
without  the  positive  police  protection  that  a  terri- 
torial legislature  might  give  or  deny  the  peculiar 


The  Climax  of  the  Slavery  Struggle  235 

institution,  slavery  could  not  exist.  The  republi- 
cans were  in  a  more  immediate  quandary,  if  not 
so  deep  a  one.  Their  principle  of  Free  Soil  had 
been  swept  away  by  the  work  of  the  aged  chief 
justice.  They  must  gainsay  the  highest  court  of 
the  land,  or  admit  their  most  precious  principle 
was  unconstitutional.  Lincoln  in  answering 
Douglas  at  Springfield,  June  26,  1857,  promised 
for  his,  party  acquiescence  for  the  time  being  in 
the  decision,  but  also  an  unalterable  resolve  that 
some  day  that  decision  should  be  reversed  by  the 
court  itself.  Both  parties  waited  upon  the  turn 
of  events  in  Kansas,  and  the  decision  of  the 
voters  of  Illinois, 

Douglas  speedily  found  himself  bearing  the 
burden  of  obloquy  earned  for  him  by  southern 
fire  eaters  determined  to  win  Kansas  for  slavery 
by  fraud  or  force.  In  1857  the  infamous  Lecomp- 
ton  Constitution,  drawn  by  a  pro-slavery  packed 
convention,  was  presented  to  Congress,  the  voters 
having  been  allowed  to  decide  only  whether  they 
would  have  the  constitution  drawn  in  every  line 
to  protect  slavery,  uwith  slavery"  or  "without 
slavery."  Such  a  travesty  on  popular  sovereignty 
Douglas  knew  would  alienate  the  majority  of  his 
democratic  following  in  Illinois.  Anxious  for  his 
reelection  as  senator  by  the  General  Assembly  to 
be  selected  in  1858,  he  appeared  at  the  state  fair 
in  the  fall  of  1857  to  sound  public  sentiment.    At 


236  The  Story  of  Illinois 


the  next  session  of  Congress  he  broke  with  Bu- 
chanan's administration  and  opposed  the  passage 
of  the  Lecompton  Constitution. 

"  Mr.  Douglas,"  said  the  President  rising  to  his 
feet  excitedly  —  so  Douglas  told  the  story  of  their 
final  break  —  "I  desire  you  to  remember  that  no 
Democrat  ever  yet  differed  from  an  administra- 
tion of  his  own  choice  without  being  crushed.  Be- 
ware of  the  fate  of  Tallmadge  and  Rives."  "  Mr. 
President,"  rejoined  Douglas  also  rising,  "  I  wish 
you  to  remember  that  General  Jackson  is  dead."  x 

Perhaps  Buchanan  may  have  remembered  the 
days  of  1838-9  when  the  party  lash  drove  the 
Illinois  Congressmen  into  line  for  the  subtreasury, 
and  have  hoped  to  repeat  the  triumph.  But  as 
Douglas  had  reminded  him,  General  Jackson  was 
dead.  Eastern  republicans,  believing  Douglas 
would  carry  with  him  but  a  handful  of  revolters, 
prepared  to  welcome  him  into  the  republican 
ranks.  Horace  Greeley  sent  E.  B.  Washburne 
to  Illinois  to  announce  that  Lincoln  must  not  be 
run  against  Douglas  for  the  senatorship.  But 
Western  republicans  knew  better.  The  "Little 
Giant's"  stand  had  awakened  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  remaining  democrats  of  Illinois  save  for  a 
corporal's  guard  of  office  holders.  Every  demo- 
cratic paper  in  the  state  approved  his  course. 
Buchanan,  to  defeat  Douglas,  mustered  his  little 

1  Allen  Johnson,  Douglas,  p.  328. 


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The  Climax  of  the  Slavery  Struggle  237 

group  of  Lecompton  office  holders  and  subsidized 
presses,  strong  in  federal  patronage  and  little  else, 
led  by  worn  out  politicians  like  John  Reynolds 
and  Sidney  Breese,  cringing  from  forty  years  of 
political  meannesses.  In  moral  stature  and  politi- 
cal honesty  Douglas  exceeded  such  men  even 
more  than  he  war.  exceeded  in  conscience  by  such 
republican  leaders  as  Wentworth,  Palmer,  Trum- 
bull and  Lincoln. 

Ostensibly  the  political  contest  of  1858  turned 
on  the  election  of  a  state  general  assembly  to 
choose  a  senator.  Breese,  the  Buchanan  or 
"  Danite"  candidate,  had  no  chance  of  success,  his 
only  hope  being  to  revenge  Buchanan  on  Douglas 
for  his  revolt  against  the  administration.  Avow- 
edly they  planned  to  elect  Lincoln  rather  than 
Douglas.  "He  [Dougherty]  told  Lincoln  that 
the  National  Democracy  intended  i  to  run  in  every 
county  and  District  a  National  Democrat  for  each 
and  every  office'"  —  Lincoln  replied  to  this  by 
saying:  "If  you  do  this  the  thing  is  settled  —  the 
battle  is  fought."  *  Between  Douglas  and  Lin- 
coln was  the  race,  the  issues  being  which  one 
was  to  speak  Illinois'  repudiation  of  the  adminis- 
tration and  the  crime  against  Kansas,  and  whether 
that  rebuke  was  to  be  couched  in  terms  of  modera- 
tion or  of  free  soil.    Both  men  were  put  forward 

1  Trumbull  Ms9.,  Library  of  Congress;  Herndon  to  Trumbull^ 
July  8,  1858. 


238  The  Story  of  Illinois 

by  party  conventions,  the  republican  convention 
declaring  Lincoln  its  "first  and  only  choice."  In 
the  famous  "  House  divided  against  itself  Speech  " 
delivered  the  evening  of  his  nomination,  Lincoln 
indicated  the  principle  of  his  campaign;  that  to 
oppose  the  proslavery  excesses  of  the  administra- 
tion in  Kansas  as  Douglas  purposed  was  merely 
to  apply  palliatives  to  the  evil;  instead  once  and 
for  all  it  must  be  decided  whether  slavery  was 
to  spread  and  strike  new  runners  in  free  soil 
everywhere  or  whether,  cut  back  stiffly  to  its 
present  bounds,  it  was  to  exhaust  the  soil  on  which 
it  grew,  dwindle,,  and  finally  decay. 

In  the  old  frontier  fashion  Lincoln  set  out  to 
ride  the  political  circuit  after  Douglas.  Finding 
himself  reduced  often  to  serve  as  a  sort  of  anti- 
climax to  audiences  gathered  for  the  "Little 
Giant,"  he  challenged  Douglas  to  a  joint  debate. 
Douglas  agreed  to  debate  with  him  once  in  each  of 
the  seven  congressional  districts  he  had  yet  to 
visit,  at  Ottawa,  Freeport,  Jonesboro,  Charleston, 
Galesburg,  Quincy,  and  Alton.  Into  the  resulting 
debate  was  poured  all  the  skill  in  handling,  hold- 
ing, and  winning  vast  outdoor  audiences  de- 
veloped in  forty  years  of  frontier  stump  speak- 
ing, exemplified  by  two  of  its  greatest  masters. 
At  the  end  neither  could  claim  the  victory. 

The  moral  victory  in  the  debate  lay  with  Lin- 
coln.    Douglas  defending  the  principles  of  the 


The  Climax  of  the  Slavery  Struggle  239 

old  democracy,  was  compelled  to  expound  them 
as  ensuring  liberties  to  the  white  man  only.  The 
solution  of  the  territorial  difficulty  he  offered  was 
necessarily  based  on  expediency  and  on  fine  drawn 
constitutional  quibbles.  Trumbull,  assisting  Lin- 
coln, had  shown  that  Douglas  in  1856  had  cut 
out  of  a  bill  for  the  admission  of  Kansas  a  clause 
allowing  a  popular  vote  on  the  future  state  Con- 
stitution. The  commentary  on  popular  sovereign- 
ty was  an  unpleasant  one.  At  Freeport  Lincoln 
forced  his  opponent  once  more  to  a  restatement 
of  the  doctrine  that!  unfriendly  legislation  by  a 
territorial  legislature  was  a  legal  and  sufficient 
means  to  keep  slavery  out  of  the  territory,  the 
famous  Freeport  Heresy.  Lincoln  rose  to  greater 
heights  than  pinning  his  shifty  antagonist  on  a 
legal  quibble  that  would  gain  him  no  favor  at  the 
South.  In  a  moment  of  vision  he  announced  the 
whole  question  as  essentially  a  moral  issue,  the 
issue  of  the  right  or  wrong  of  the  oppression  and 
exploitation  of  labor  whether  slave  or  free.  The 
former  whig  had  ascended  to  the  heights  of  the 
old  democratic  doctrine. 

That  is  the  real  issue.  That  is  the  issue  that 
will  continue  in  this  country  when  these  poor 
tongues  of  Judge  Douglas  and  myself  shall  be 
silent.  It  is  the  eternal  struggle  between  these 
two  principles  —  right  and  wrong  —  throughout 
the  world.    They  are  the  two  principles  that  have 


24°  The  Story  of  Illinois 

stood  face  to  face  from  the  beginning  of  time, 
and  will  ever  continue  to  struggle.  The  one  is  the 
common  right  of  humanity,  and  the  other  the 
"  divine  right  of  kings. "  It  is  the  same  principle 
in  whatever  shape  it  develops  itself.  It  is  the 
same  spirit  that  says,  "You  work  and  toil  and 
earn  bread,  and  I'll  eat  it."  No  matter  in  what 
shape  it  comes,  whether  from  the  mouth  of  a 
king  who  seeks  to  bestride  the  people  of  his  own 
nation  and  live  by  the  fruit  of  their  labor,  or  from 
one  race  of  men  as  an  apology  for  enslaving  an- 
other race,  it  is  the  same  tyrannical  principle.1 

The  moral  victory  was  with  Lincoln,  but  the 
senatorship  fell  to  Douglas.  Both  Douglas  and 
Lincoln  had  struggled  for  the  old  whig  vote  in 
central  Illinois,  each  claiming  to  be  the  true  suc- 
cessor of  Henry  Clay;  and  Lincoln's  success  had 
been  but  partial.  "  Before  us  lies  the  field 
.  .  .  ."  wrote  Herndon  in  1858  after  Lin- 
coln's defeat.  "It  is  in  Sangamon  —  Morgan  — 
Madison  —  Logan — Mason;  in  short  it  is  a 
circle  of  counties  reaching  not  more  than  80  miles 
from  the  capitol.  The  people  that  live  in  that 
area  must  be  somehow  reached;  and  now.  Sec- 
ondly who  are  these  people;  they  are  from  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  Virginia  &c;  and  generally  they 
are  "old-line"  whigs  —  timid  —  shrinking,  but 
good,  men."2     In  the  popular  vote  Lincoln  car- 

1  Alton  Debate — Lincoln  Douglas  Debates.    Sparks  Ed.  p.  485. 

2  Trumbull  Mss.,  Library  of  Congress ;  Herndon  to  Trumbull, 
Nov.  30,  1858. 


The  Climax  of  the  Slavery  Struggle  241 

ried  through  to  victory  the  republican  state  candi- 
dates for  Treasurer  and  Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction.  But  since  the  state  had  been 
districted  northern  population  had  been  pouring 
into  Illinois.  The  "unterrified"  democracy  of 
Egypt  elected  more  than  its  proportion  of  legis- 
lators and  in  spite  of  the  Danites  or  Buchanan 
men,  Douglas  was  reelected  by  54  votes  to  41. 

The  election  meant  that  the  pivotal  state  of 
the  Northwest,  formerly  its  democratic  strong- 
hold, had  returned  Douglas  in  spite  of  adminis- 
tration intrigues  and  republican  strength,  as  a 
rebuke  to  Buchanan.  The  victory  designated 
Douglas  as  the  presidential  candidate  for  whom 
the  remaining  democrats  of  the  Northwest  would 
vote  in  i860.  But  by  that  law  of  mass  that 
teaches  the  tactician  to  oppose  his  main  force  to 
the  main  force  of  the  enemy,  the  victory  had  desig- 
nated also  Abraham  Lincoln  as  Douglas'  oppo- 
nent. November  1,  1858,  the  Olney  Tfm^putthe 
name  of  Lincoln  at  the  head  of  its  columns  for 
president.  By  the  next  summer  Lincoln  was 
sweeping  on  in  Illinois  and  his  strength  was  be- 
ginning to  develop  in  surrounding  states  of  the 
northwest.  His  famous  Cooper  Union  speech  of 
February,  i860,  introduced  him  to  the  East  as 
well. 

Many  factors  contributed  to  his  progress.  The 
outstanding  republican  candidate  was  William  H. 


242  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Seward.  But  Illinois  republicans  remembered 
that  he  and  Greeley  had  tried  to  side  track  Lin- 
coln for  Douglas  in  1858. 

"Now  that  Seward,  Greeley  &  Co.  have  con- 
tributed so  much  to  our  defeat,"  wrote  Ebenezer 
Peck  to  Trumbull,  November  30,  1858,  uthey 
may  expect  us  in  the  true  christian  spirit  to  return 
good  for  evil  —  but  in  this  I  fear  they  will  find 
themselves  mistaken.  If  the  vote  of  Illinois  can 
nominate  another  than  Seward — I  hope  it  will 
be  so  cast.  The  coals  of  fire  I  would  administer, 
will  be  designed  to  raise  a  severe  blister." 1 

Seward's  doctrine  that  there  was  a  higher  law 
than  the  constitution  injured  him  with  the  conser- 
vative republicans.  Of  other  candidates,  Edward 
Bates  of  Missouri,  favored  by  Browning  because 
he  could  get  old  whig  votes  that  Lincoln  could 
not,  was  displeasing  to  the  Germans.  The  re- 
publican state  convention  instructed  the  Illinois 
delegation  for  Lincoln. 

Tremendously  in  Lincoln's  favor  was  the  fact 
that  the  national  republican  convention  was  to 
be  held  in  Chicago  in  the  famous  wigwam  on 
Lake  Street.  The  local  atmosphere  was  cleverly 
manipulated  by  Illinois  republican  leaders,  and 
delegation  after  delegation  by  addresses,  by  per- 
suasion, by  bargains  was  won  over  to  favor  Lin- 
coln's candidacy.    The  wigwam  packed  with  Lin- 

1  Trumbull  Mss.,  Library  of  Congress. 


The  Climax  of  the  Slavery  Struggle  243 

coin  supporters,  in  the  galleries,  at  the  name  of 
Lincoln  gave  a  "yawp"  that  put  to  shame  the 
followers  of  Seward.  The  swing  of  anti-Seward 
votes  to  the  candidate  who  seemed  to  have  the 
best  chance  to  defeat  the  New  Yorker,  nominated 
Lincoln  on  the  third  ballot.  In  outward  harmony 
the  republicans  adjourned. 

With  the  democrats  it  was  otherwise.  After 
his  reelection  in  1859  Douglas  had  turned  now 
this  way,  now  that,  seeking  to  conciliate  both 
North  and  South.  In  spite  of  his  concessions,  in 
spite  of  his  attempts  to  win  Southern  sentiment 
and  at  the  same  time  obtain  a  platform  that  would 
save  the  North,  his  party  split.  In  the  democratic 
convention  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  the 
Douglas  men  voted  down  resolutions  which  stated 
in  Calhoun's  old  uncompromising  style  the  right 
of  slavery  in  the  territories  as  a  national  institu- 
tion; they  offered  the  subservient  platform  of 
1856  and  acquiescence  in  the  Dred  Scott  De- 
cision, but  all  to  no  purpose.  The  irreconcilables 
withdrew;  and  when  Douglas  was  finally  nom- 
inated at  Richmond,  John  C.  Breckenridge  was 
set  up  by  the  Southern  democrats  to  run  against 
him,  and  John  Bell,  of  Tennessee,  appeared  for 
a  little  whig  remnant  known  as  the  Constitutional 
Unionists. 

The  campaign  in  Illinois  was  between  Douglas 
and   Lincoln,    republican   and   regular   democrat. 


244  The  Story  of  Illinois 

The  vote  for  Bell  and  Breckenridge  was  insignifi- 
cant. Douglas  threw  himself  desperately  into 
the  campaign,  in  defiance  of  precedent  himself 
taking  the  stump.  When  the  loss  of  Pennsylvania 
in  October  told  him  all  hope  was  gone,  he  went 
South  on  a  speaking  tour,  this  time  to  endeavor 
to  prevent  the  worst  consequences.  On  the  Illi- 
nois state  ticket  for  the  republicans  Richard  Yates 
had  obtained  the  nomination  for  governor  over 
the  better  known  N.  B.  Judd.  His  democratic 
opponent,  James  C.  Allen  was  nominated  late,  by 
a  party  jaded  by  the  long  struggle  over  Douglas' 
nomination.  John  T.  Stuart,  run  by  the  Consti- 
tutional Union  element,  offered  but  little  opposi- 
tion. The  republicans  carried  the  state  by  12,000. 
In  those  critical  days  of  December,  i860,  and 
January,  1861,  the  future  chief  magistrate  of  the 
nation  was  in  the  state  capital  of  Illinois.  The 
situation  made  Governor-elect  Richard  Yates  in 
a  sense  the  spokesman  of  the  new  national  ad- 
ministration when  in  his  inaugural  he  stood  against 
any  concession  or  compromise  with  the  South. 
The  democrats  holding  a  convention  at  Springfield 
professed  themselves  loyal  to  the  Union,  but  also 
in  favor  of  attempts  at  compromise  with  the 
South.  To  a  great  extent  public  opinion  was  still 
with  them  on  this,  and  reluctantly  Lincoln  and 
Yates  sent  an  Illinois  delegation  to  the  Peace 
convention  called  by  Virginia  at  Washington. 


The  Climax  of  the  Slavery  Struggle  245 

State  politics,  too,  were  at  cross  purposes.  The 
General  Assembly  of  1859  nacl  tried  to  gerry- 
mander the  state  to  continue  the  control  of  the 
legislature  to  the  democrats.  Governor  Bissell 
had  vetoed  the  bill  and  the  republicans,  absenting 
themselves  to  break  up  a  quorum,  had  prevented 
the  passage  of  the  gerrymander,  but  also  the  pas- 
sage of  the  appropriation  bills.  The  General 
Assembly  of  1861  passed  an  act  districting  the 
state  on  republican  lines  and  as  a  sop  to  the 
democrats  an  act  calling  a  constitutional  conven- 
tion. A  bill  for  the  reorganization  of  the  state 
militia  the  democrats  would  not  submit  to  and  it 
was  put  aside  at  the  end  of  the  session. 

The  actual  military  participation  of  Illinois  in 
the  war  will  be  taken  up  in  a  later  chapter.  Here 
the  discussion  of  the  attitude  of  the  people  to  the 
administration,  to  the  rebellion,  and  to  slavery 
will  be  concluded. 

The  news  of  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter  and  the 
vigorous  measures  by  which  Lincoln  meant  to 
deal  with  the  rebellion  threatened  for  the  moment 
to  break  the  commonwealth  of  Illinois  into  its 
component  substances.  Southern  Illinois  at  first 
blazed  with  sympathy  for  the  confederacy.  At 
Marion  in  Williamson  county  a  meeting  of  south- 
ern Illinois  men  was  held  intended  to  be  prepar- 
atory to  setting  up  Egypt  as  a  separate  state  and 
allying  with  the  confederacy.     The  evidence  is 


246  The  Story  of  Illinois 

debatable,  but  it  points  strongly  to  the  fact  that 
John  A.  Logan  at  the  first  leaned  toward  the 
South.  The  least  danger  to  be  feared  was  that 
southern  Illinois  might  be  a  recruiting  ground  for 
the  confederacy.  Douglas  flung  himself  into  the 
breach.  In  Illinois  he  spent  his  last  strength  urg- 
ing democrats  to  put  the  nation  before  the  party 
and  to  hold  up  the  hands  of  the  Black  Republican 
president  while  he  labored  for  the  perpetuation 
of  the  Union.  Speaking  before  the  special  ses- 
sion of  the  Illinois  legislature,  he  urged  on  both 
parties  the  subordination  of  partisanship  to  pa- 
triotism. A  life  of  political  combat,  the  last 
seven  years  of  it  desperately  fought,  had  sapped 
his  vitality  and  he  died  June  9,  1861.  He  had 
been  the  unconscious  instrument  to  let  loose  the 
flood  of  civil  war;  but  by  his  desperate  efforts  to 
stop  it  he  had  atoned  for  the  error. 

Douglas  had  won  over  most  of  the  democrats 
of  southern  Illinois.  Logan  and  McClernand, 
the  latter  always  a  union  democrat,  led  their  sec- 
tion to  the  support  of  Yates'  war  policy  and  led 
the  fighting  men  of  their  section  to  the  battle 
field.  Southern  Illinois  was  even  to  exceed  the 
North  in  its  quota  of  soldiers.  Enthusiasm  for 
the  Union  swept  the  whole  state  and  put  the  seal 
of  approval  on  the  militia  act,  and  the  other  vig- 
orous war  measures  of  the  special  session  of  the 
legislature. 


The  Climax  of  the  Slavery  Struggle  247 

But  difference  of  opinion  still  lay  deep  in  the 
heterogeneous  population  of  Illinois.  Douglas 
had  brought  the  mass  of  the  democracy  to  sup- 
port loyally  the  war  for  the  Union;  he  had  not 
tried  to  convert  them  to  the  republican  free  soil 
doctrine  and  thereby  to  stultify  the  record  of  his 
party  for  the  last  ten  years.  On  the  other  hand 
zealous  republicans  preached  a  crusade  against 
slavery  and  chafed  bitterly  at  Lincoln's  slowness 
to  proclaim  it.  When  General  Fremont  issued 
his  proclamation,  as  commander  of  Missouri, 
freeing  the  slaves  of  rebels,  and  Lincoln  disal- 
lowed it,  there  was  deep  discontent.  When  Lin- 
coln removed  him  in  November  there  was  an  out- 
cry, and  a  bitter  one.  "  The  repudiation  by  Mr. 
Lincoln  of  Fremont's  Proclamation  manumitting 
the  slaves  of  Missouri  rebels,  gave  more  'aid  and 
comfort  to  the  enemy*  in  that  state  than  if  he  had 
made  the  rebel  commander,  Sterling  Price,  a  pres- 
ent of  fifty  pieces  of  rifled  cannon."  * 

The  much  tried  president  meanwhile  was  strug- 
gling with  the  problem  of  steering  a  course  that 
would  keep  the  support  of  the  loyal  men  of  the 
North.  With  radicals  like  Trumbull  pressing  for 
extreme  measures,  and  conservatives  like  Senator 
Orville  H.  Browning  striving  to  confirm  him  in  the 
paths  of  moderation  he  was  torn  between  forces 

1  Trumbull  Mss.,  Library  of  Congress;  John  Russell  to  Trum- 
bull, Bluffdale,  Dec.  17,  1861. 


248  The  Story  of  Illinois 

diametrically  opposed.  When  Trumbull  pressed 
the  drastic  second  confiscation  act  on  him  in  1862, 
Browning  warned  him  that  he  stood  at  the  part- 
ing of  the  ways  and  that  signing  it  he  walked  with 
the  radicals  to  ruin.  When  Lincoln,  at  last  believ- 
ing that  slavery  should  be  cauterized,  issued 
the  First  Emancipation  Proclamation,  Browning 
mourned  over  him.  When  he  issued  the  second, 
Browning  gave  him  up  in  despair. 

The  impossibility  of  Lincoln's  waging  the  war 
to  please  both  antislavery  republicans  and  union 
democrats  for  a  time  threw  the  state  into  the 
hands  of  the  democrats.  In  the  constitutional 
convention  elected  in  the  fall  of  1861  the  demo- 
crats outnumbered  the  republicans  two  to  one.  In 
spite  of  the  fact  that  Yates  believed  it  honey- 
combed with  secession,  it  contented  itself  with 
drawing  up  a  constitution  that  sought  to  restore 
the  old  simple  bankless  rural  Illinois  that  had 
passed  never  to  return.  Wentworth  supported  it, 
but  it  was  beaten  at  the  polls  by  a  majority  of 
16,051. 

The  emancipation  proclamation,  and  arbitrary 
arrests  for  disloyal  utterances  in  1862,  so  Brown- 
ing believed,  turned  the  state  over  to  a  rabidly 
democratic  legislature,  that  elected  William  A. 
Richardson  to  succeed  him  in  the  senate.1     The 


1  He  had  been  appointed  by  Yates  to  fill  out  Douglas'  term 
until  an  election  by  the  General  Assembly  could  take  place. 


The  Climax  of  the  Slavery  Struggle   249 

democrats  in  defending  the  Black  Laws  of  1853 
urged  their  necessity  to  save  white  labor  in  the 
state  from  competition  from  free  negroes.  The 
flood  of  " contrabands"  pouring  in  by  way  of 
Cairo  gave  point  to  their  argument.  They  passed 
in  the  house  resolutions  for  an  armistice  and  a 
peace  convention  at  Louisville;  their  apportion- 
ment bill  was  vetoed  by  Yates,  and  before  they 
could  pass  it  over  his  veto  the  governor  prorogued 
the  legislature. 

June  17,  a  democratic  mass  convention  of 
40,000  denounced  the  arbitrary  use  of  war  powers 
and  called  for  a  national  convention  to  nego- 
tiate peace.  In  local  copperhead  movements, 
in  the  Chicago  Times  suppressed  for  a  day 
for  disloyalty,  the  dissatisfaction  with  the  war 
powers  found  vent.  A  plot  was  unearthed 
in  November,  1864,  to  release  the  confed- 
erate prisoners  at  Camp  Douglas  located  in  what 
is  now  the  heart  of  the  south  side  of  Chicago. 

Meanwhile  the  time  approached  for  another 
presidential  election.  Lincoln  in  his  middle 
course  was  still  too  timid  and  conservative  for 
the  radicals,  too  radical  for  the  conservatives  in 
his  own  party.  For  a  time  there  was  a  real  en- 
thusiasm for  Fremont  among  the  out  and  outers, 
especially  among  the  German  republicans.  The 
party  necessity  for  standing  by  the  record,  as  em- 
bodied in  the  president,  compelled  the  renomina- 


250  The  Story  of  Illinois 

tion  of  Lincoln;  but  Fremont  was  nominated  in- 
dependently. 

The  democrats  meanwhile  were  in  a  position 
less  difficult  at  first  sight,  but  still  quite  perplexing. 
They  could  not  well  denounce  the  war  as  a  fail- 
ure without  alienating  thousands  of  loyal  war 
democrats;  of  that  General  McClellan,  their 
presidential  candidate,  was  the  first  to  remind 
them.  Still  their  position  even  on  the  platform 
that  the  war  was  a  failure  was  a  strong  one.  But 
the  military  events  of  the  fall  of  1864  disproved 
their  case.  Farragut  at  Mobile,  Sherman  at  At- 
lanta, Sheridan  in  the  Shenandoah,  were  demon- 
strating that  the  war  was  not  a  failure,  that  the 
confederacy  was  doomed.  Fremont  withdrew 
from  the  race.  Logan  aroused  Illinois  for  Lin- 
coln and  the  election  resulted  in  a  majority  for 
him  of  30,736.  Not  three  months  later,  February 
1,  1865,  the  republican  general  assembly  ratified 
the  thirteenth  amendment  forever  abolishing  slav- 
ery. At  the  same  session  the  Black  Laws  were 
finally  wiped  off  the  Illinois  statute  book. 

Hardly  eleven  years  had  passed  since  Douglas 
had  reopened  the  slavery  question  in  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise.  Since  then  the  whig 
party  had  disappeared,  and  the  democratic  party 
had  been  torn  by  the  secession  of  its  best  men. 
By  1864  it  had  sunk  definitely  in  the  state  it  had 
ruled  for  a  generation  to  a  minority  party  good 


The  Climax  of  the  Slavery  Struggle  251 

for  little  but  an  agency  of  rebuke  to  the  republic- 
ans. The  republican  party  had  taken  its  place; 
for  a  time  taking  over  the  old  democratic  doc- 
trines of  the  rights  of  men,  but  now  seeking  to 
combine  them  with  the  old  whig  care  for  capital 
and  vested  interests.  In  the  days  of  confusion 
men  had  changed  sides  fast.  Old  time  whigs  like 
Browning  had  become  republicans,  and  in  dislike 
of  the  radical  policies  of  Lincoln  shifted  to  the 
democratic  party.  Zealous  anti-Nebraska  demo- 
crats of  1854  like  John  Reynolds  had  in  the  days 
of  the  war  walked  very  close  to  the  edge  of  dis- 
loyalty. Democrats  like  John  A.  Logan,  accused 
of  advising  men  in  1861  to  enlist  in  the  southern 
army,  were  to  become  the  highest  prophets  of 
republicanism.  Democrats  like  John  M.  Palmer 
led  by  principles  rather  than  party  allegiance,  had 
been  led  by  them  to  the  republican  party  in  1856 
and  ultimately  were  to  follow  them  back  to  the 
democratic  group.  Leaders  and  groups  winnowed 
vigorously  by  the  great  days  of  1 854-1 865  were 
at  length  to  find  their  places  again  in  the  republic- 
an and  democratic  ranks,  but  in  arrangements 
hardly  to  be  foreseen  from  their  nrevious  asso- 
ciations. 

The  spring  of  1865  came,  and  the  Civil  War 
was  over;  the  United  States  flag  was  dramatically 
unfurled  over  Fort  Sumpter  on  the  day  five  years 
before  on  which  Major  Anderson  had  lowered  it. 


252  The  Story  of  Illinois 


Then  came  the  assassination  of  Lincoln  and  the 
bearing  back  of  his  body  to  its  rest  till  eternity 
at  Springfield.  In  his  tomb  was  buried  the  enmity 
of  those  who  had  opposed  him  in  life.  Even  the 
Chicago  Times,  his  savage  critic,  added  its 
tribute : 

It  is  hard  to  conceive  of  the  occurrence  of  any 
event  which  would  be  so  shocking  to  the  sensibili- 
ties of  the  country,  occasion  sorrow  so  profound, 
and  create  apprehensions  and  forebodings  so  pain- 
ful, as  the  event  which  today  absorbs  all  minds 
and  agitates  the  public  heart  to  its  lowest  depths. 
Since  the  4th  of  March  last  a  higher  estimate  has 
been  put  upon  Mr.  Lincoln's  life,  and  more  voices 
have  ascended  to  Heaven  that  it  might  be  spared, 
than  before.  Since  that  time  all  men  have  real- 
ized something  of  the  magnitude  of  the  concerns 
involved  in  his  lease  of  existence,  and  have 
shuddered  at  the  thought  of  the  possibility  of  his 
death.  It  is  not  chiefly  the  manner  of  his  death  — 
awful  as  that  was  —  that  so  moves  the  national 
mind.  It  is  not  this,  but  it  is  that  at  this  present 
crisis  of  the  country  —  more  important  and  criti- 
cal than  any  through  which  it  has  passed  —  the 
presidential  mantle  falls  upon  the  shoulders  of  a 
man  in  whom  nobody  feels  confidence 

There  are  not  on  this  day  mourners  more  sin- 
cere than  the  democracy  of  these  northern  states. 
Widely  as  they  have  differed  with  Mr.  Lincoln  — 
greatly  as  their  confidence  in  him  had  been  shaken 
—  they  yet  saw  in  the  indications  of  the  last  few 
days  of  his  life  that  he  might   command  their 


STATUE  OF  LINCOLN 

Lincoln   Park,    Chicago 


The  Climax  of  the  Slavery  Struggle  253 

support  in  the  close  of  the  war,  as  he  did  in  the 
beginning * 

Rare  instances  were  reported  of  individuals  who 
exulted  at  his  death;  on  almost  every  case  they 
met  with  private  condemnation  of  public  prosecu- 
tion.   The  apotheosis  of  Lincoln  was  at  hand. 

Long  since  it  has  come  to  pass  that  the  counsel 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  as  if  one  enquired  of  the 
oracle  of  God.  His  writings  are  searched  for 
sayings  that  may  be  used  on  either  side  of  every 
question  of  public  policy  in  the  present  day.  As 
the  historian,  discarding  present  day  tradition 
studies  in  the  light  of  Lincoln's  own  day  that  char- 
acter that  has  been  accepted  as  the  incarnation  of 
democracy  in  peoples  and  nations  of  which  he 
never  heard,  it  becomes  strangely  complex.  At 
first  sight  Lincoln  appears  an  astute  politician 
seeking  by  honorable  means  the  advancement  of 
his  party  and  his  individual  welfare,  in  ways  he 
thinks  for  his  country's  good.  By  the  time  he  has 
reached  the  presidency  he  has  learned  to  measure 
his  course  by  the  will  of  the  people.  While  still 
he  seeks  that  will  his  contemporaries  call  him 
timorous  and  cowardly;  when  once  he  has  found 
and  executes  it  they  condemn  him  as  ruthless ;  with 
small  effect  on  him  in  either  case.  At  times  the 
politician  and  statesman  seems  possessed  with  a 

1  Chicago  Times,  Apr.  17,  1866. 


254  The  Story  of  Illinois 

spirit,  an  oracle  of  the  Divine  will;  and  there  fall 
from  his  lips  sayings  of  superhuman  wisdom,  of 
liberty,  of  democracy,  of  the  dignity  of  labor,  of 
the  brotherhood  of  man,  of  mercy  to  the  van- 
quished; and  politician  and  statesman  are  alike 
forgotten  in  the  god. 

The  death  of  Lincoln  marked  the  end  of  the 
heroic  age  of  Illinois  history.  In  the  great  strug- 
gle as  to  whether  the  United  States  for  the  sake 
of  union  and  democracy  should  temporize  with 
slavery  or  should  cast  it  out  altogether,  Illinois 
had  furnished  leaders  and  ideals  in  the  persons  of 
Douglas  and  Lincoln;  in  support  of  the  man  who 
with  his  policy  she  had  chosen,  she  had  borne  her 
full  share  in  a  mighty  war  that  had  taken  terrible 
toll  of  her  best.  The  enthusiasm  for  the  ideal 
was  to  pass  because  human  nature  cannot  as  yet 
long  sustain  the  ideal;  and  to  it  were  to  succeed 
the  ages  of  bronze  and  of  iron. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  ITS  AFTERMATH,   l86l-68 


IT  IS  inevitable  for  one  in  this  generation 
writing  of  Illinois'  part  in  the  Civil  War  to 
compare  it  with  her  part  in  the  World  War.  The 
Civil  War  was  a  far  simpler  affair;  not  a  tithe, 
perhaps  not  a  hundredth,  of  the  expenditure  in 
ordnance,  ammunition  and  equipment  of  191 7-1 8 
was  required  to  furnish  forth  the  armies  of 
1861-65  for  the  battle  field.  Illinois  was  just  be- 
coming industrial  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war; 
hence  the  burdens  laid  on  her  industry  were  trivial 
by  comparison  with  those  of  19 18.  In  1 861-2 
her  wheat  fields  were  important  as  contributing  a 
share  of  the  grain  that  Europe  needed  to  supple- 
ment her  crop  failures  and  must  secure  from  the 
United  States  at  the  price  of  neutrality;  but  the 
problem  of  helping  to  feed  half  embattled  Europe 
in  191 8  was  a  far  greater  one.  In  man  power, 
however,  her  Civil  War  offering  was  far  greater 
by  proportion  than  that  of  the  World  War. 
Counting  enlistments  of  all  lengths  and  reenlist- 
ments,  her  total  lay  somewhere  about  250,000. 
Of  these  5,857  were  killed  in  action,  3,051  died 
of  wounds  and  19,934  of  disease.     The  number 

255 


256  The  Story  of  Illinois 

came  near  that  which  she  supplied  from  a  far 
greater  population  in  191 7-1 8;  the  number  of  cas- 
ualties was  far  greater. 

The  troops  for  two  years  poured  in  by  volun- 
teering; but  3,538  men  entered  the  service  by  the 
draft.  Had  the  recruiting  enthusiasm  of  the  ear- 
lier years  been  left  unchecked  even  that  small  num- 
ber might  have  been  reduced.  For  it  was  the  un- 
fortunate policy  of  the  War  Department  to  dis- 
courage recruiting  in  earlier  years  and  then  have 
recourse  to  the  draft.  Illinois,  too,  made  her  mis- 
take in  not  adopting  a  replacement  system  such  as 
that1  of  Wisconsin.  She  raised  regiment  after 
regiment  by  volunteering  to  the  number  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  infantry,  and  seventeen  cavalry 
regiments,  and  thirty-three  batteries;  in  most 
cases  these  units  were  sent  under  fire  untrained, 
suffered  heavy  casualties,  and  then  instead  of  be- 
ing filled  up  by  recruits  who  would  learn  to  be 
soldiers  and  acquire  esprit  de  corps  from  the  vet- 
erans, were  kept  as  weak  organizations,  while 
new  volunteer  regiments  were  raised  to  afford 
commissions  to  inexperienced  but  ambitious  of- 
ficers. The  toll  in  lives  paid  by  this  policy  was  a 
heavy  one. 

The  share  of  Lincoln's  first  call  of  75,000  al- 
lotted to  the  state  was  overfilled  by  five  days  vol- 
unteering with  six  regiments.  The  legislature, 
meeting  in  special  session,  appropriated  to  equip 


The  Civil  War  and  Its  Aftermath     257 

ten  new  regiments  of  infantry,  one  of  cavalry  and 
four  batteries.  By  June  all  were  accepted  by  the 
government.  Four  additional  cavalry  regiments 
were  raised  before  the  disaster  at  Bull  Run,  six- 
teen more  regiments  after  it.  Recruiting  was  at 
flood  tide.  The  War  Department  could  not  be 
induced  to  accept  over  a  fourth  of  the  companies 
offered;  men  enlisted  in  Missouri  regiments.  By 
October  Illinois  had  more  regiments  in  the  service 
than  New  York.  In  December  she  had  60,000 
men  in  the  army.  During  1862  under  the  pres- 
sure of  a  state  enrollment  she  more  than  doubled 
the  number.  It  was  perhaps  unfortunate;  for  a 
system  of  enrollment  and  draft  could  have  been 
used  to  fill  old  organizations ;  volunteering  merely 
multiplied  companies  and  regiments. 

March  3,  1863,  Senator  Trumbull's  conscrip- 
tion act  went  into  effect;  but  through  1863  volun- 
teering went  on  so  rapidly  that  January  1,  1864, 
Illinois  was  far  in  excess  of  her  quota  of  145,000. 
In  the  summer  of  1864  she  was  still  in  excess,  and 
in  many  districts  of  the  state  a  draft  wheel  never 
turned.  The  draft  would  undoubtedly  have  fur- 
nished a  more  efficient  army;  and  there  were  un- 
pleasant aspects  to  the  workings  of  the  system 
that  actually  obtained.  The  volunteering  by  com- 
panies which  kept  the  state's  quota  ahead  of  the 
drafts  often  traded  on  the  personal  popularity  of 
would-be  officers  totally  unfit  to  command  men  in 


258  The  Story  of  Illinois 

action;  such  companies  were  raised  often  by  most 
liberal  bounties  and  bonuses.  In  1864  volunteers 
in  Rockford  received  as  high  a  bounty  as  $400. 
Substitutes  could  be  furnished  for  the  draft;  and 
at  first  exemption  could  be  purchased  for  a  pay- 
ment of  $300.  Substitute  brokers  did  their  un- 
savory business  in  the  West;  and  the  man  who 
enlisted  as  a  substitute  was  quite  likely  to  desert 
and  earn  another  substituting  fee.  There  were 
local  insurance  associations  to  insure  men  drafted 
of  exemption  through  purchase  of  substitutes. 

But  the  sordid  nature  of  the  service  of  a  few 
men  cannot  detract  from  the  devotion  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands.  Illinois  not  only  did  her  full 
duty  in  sending  troops;  she  showed  herself  true 
in  her  historical  mission  as  a  political  bond  of 
union  to  men  of  divers  sections  and  divers  races. 
From  the  old  South,  from  Kentucky  and  Tennes- 
see had  come  very  many  of  her  first  settlers  in 
the  southern  counties;  and  after  their  first  reac- 
tion of  sympathy  with  the  South  had  passed  their 
devotion  to  the  Union  put  the  Northern  elements 
in  the  state  to  shame.  October  1,  1863,  the  ten 
southern  counties  were  credited  with  an  excess  of 
fifty  per  cent  over  their  quota.  Union  county  in 
eighteen  months  had  furnished  nineteen  com- 
panies out  of  a  voting  population  of  2,030,  includ- 
ing but  157  republicans;  allowing  as  much  as  pos- 
sible for  the  enlistment  of  boys  under  twenty-one, 


The  Civil  War  and  Its  Aftermath     259 

one  wonders  how  many  able  bodied  men  under 
forty-five  were  left  in  the  county.  Throughout 
the  state  there  was  many  an  old  man  who  per- 
jured himself  in  swearing  to  his  age  on  enlistment. 
The  foreign  elements  were  no  less  loyal  than 
the  democrats  of  "Egypt."  Germans  organized 
regiment  after  regiment  officered  by  veterans  of 
the  "  1848."  There  were  Irish  regiments,  Scotch 
regiments;  a  regiment  of  school  teachers  mus- 
tered by  President  Hovey  of  Illinois  State  Nor- 
mal; even  an  infantry  company  of  young  minis- 
ters. 

The  careers  of  the  individual  Illinois  units  it 
is  impossible  to  follow  in  detail.  In  general,  how- 
ever, though  they  were  found  in  every  theater  of 
the  war,  their  main  service  was  done  in  the  West; 
for  at  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  the  Mississippi 
and  Ohio  River  boundaries  of  Illinois  were  in  the 
zone  of  outposts.  Southern  Illinois,  western  Ken- 
tucky, and  Missouri  were  factors  in  one  military 
equation  that  would  be  solved  according  as  they 
arrayed  themselves  for  the  Union  or  the  Con- 
federacy. 

In  the  first  days  of  the  war  a  secession  move- 
ment in  southern  Illinois  was  a  danger  to  be  reck- 
oned with.  The  occupation  of  Cairo  by  Confed- 
erate forces  would  have  made  it  infinitely  greater; 
and  Illinois'  first  duty  was  to  garrison  Cairo  in 
sufficient  strength.     The  next  step  was  to  throw 


260  The  Story  of  Illinois 

her  weight  into  the  balance  against  secession  in 
Missouri.  The  campaign  of  1861  in  Missouri 
was  a  haphazard  affair  of  regiments  operating  in- 
dependently. In  spite  of  his  poor  leadership  Fre- 
mont during  the  period  of  his  command  in  Mis- 
souri, touched  Illinois'  imagination;  and  she 
groaned  in  spirit  when  he  was  removed.  By  his 
action  at  Belmont,  in  November,  1861,  disastrous 
as  it  seemed,  Grant  prevented  military  cooper- 
ation between  the  Kentucky  and  Missouri  con- 
federate forces.  After  1861  Missouri  was  safe 
for  the  Union  and  became  a  less  important  field 
of  action. 

The  military  strength  of  Illinois  was  next 
turned  upon  the  Confederates  in  western  Ken- 
tucky. The  confederate  defensive  line  resting 
on  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  on  the  Tennessee 
and  Cumberland  Rivers  was  within  a  few  miles  of 
the  Illinois  border.  Its  reduction  under  General 
Grant  largely  with  Illinois  troops  in  February  of 
1862  assured  the  Union  military  control  of  west- 
ern Kentucky.  In  establishing  the  allegiance  of 
the  border  states  to  the  Union  the  influence  of 
Illinois  was  paramount.  It  is  so  easily  taken  for 
granted  that  we  usually  ignore  the  other  possi- 
bility of  1 861  that  secessionists  in  Kentucky  and 
Missouri  might  have  made  southern  Illinois  a 
seat  of  war. 

Though  after  1861  war  never  even  approached 


The  Civil  War  and  Its  Aftermath     261 

Illinois  save  in  the  form  of  guerilla  raids,  her 
military  contributions  to  victory  on  more  distant 
fields  were  great.  At  Shiloh,  at  Vicksburg,  at 
Chattanooga,  Illinois  troops  were  a  decisive  fac- 
tor. Seventy  Illinois  regiments  were  in  the  army 
with  which  Sherman  made  the  Georgia  campaign 
of  1864.  In  the  western  armies  the  Illinois 
troops  had  their  most  important  part;  but  in  all 
the  great  battles  of  the  east  they  were  present. 

Among  many  brilliant  feats  of  arms  of  Illinois 
regiments  one  stands  out  to  be  admired  so  long 
as  cavalry  is  used  in  war;  the  exploit  of  the  Sixth 
and  Seventh  Illinois  and  the  Second  Iowa  Cav- 
alry, known  as  Grierson's  Raid.  Riding  night 
and  day,  dodging  or  baffling  pursuing  confederate 
cavalry,  destroying  bridges,  remounting  from 
horses  commandeered  or  captured  enroute,  Grier- 
son's brigade  rode  through  the  western  confeder- 
ate lines,  entering  them  in  Tennessee  and  coming 
out  at  the  federal  outposts  at  Baton  Rouge  above 
New  Orleans.  The  raid  destroyed  needed  con- 
federate supplies  and  communications;  above  all 
it  blinded  the  confederates  as  to  the  first  moves  of 
Grant's  Vicksburg  campaign.1 

The  war  produced  for  Illinois  a  generation  of 
statesman-generals.     The  little  regular  army  of 

1  For  a  brilliantly  written  account  of  the  raid  by  a  participant, 
Prof.  Stephen  A.  Forbes,  see  Transactions  of  Illinois  State  His- 
torical Society,  1907,  pp.  99-130. 


262  The  Story  of  Illinois 

the  United  States  of  1861  was  for  its  size  an 
admirable  force,  but  its  officers,  however  well 
they  might  understand  their  duties  and  the  art 
of  war  in  its  tactical  phases,  could  not  supply 
enough  men  with  the  natural  ability  to  control 
large  affairs,  or  the  knowledge  of  human  nature 
outside  the  few  special  types  that  enlisted  in  the 
old  army  necessary  to  lead  great  masses  of  men 
fresh  from  civil  life,  who  came  ready  to  sacri- 
fice themselves  for  an  ideal.  So  long  as  Amer- 
ican life  remains  what  it  is,  great  citizen  armies 
drawn  from  civilian  life  must  be  treated  differ- 
ently from  small  professional  armies;  and  en- 
thusiasm, genuine  natural  ability,  and  sound  com- 
mon sense  in  an  amateur  officer  can  often  atone 
for  much  lack  of  information  about  the  fine  points 
of  formal  guard  mounting,  or  court  martial  pro- 
cedure. It  was  not  surprising  that  the  period 
should  have  looked  to  its  political  leaders  to  sup- 
ply men  with  the  intelligence  and  leadership 
needed  to  lead  the  new  armies;  and  the  results 
were  probably  as  good  as  could  have  been  ob- 
tained by  men  drawn  from  any  other  walk  of 
life,  including  the  regular  army. 

Of  the  numerous  generals  credited  to  Illinois 
the  service  of  a  few  is  especially  typical.  General 
McCIernand  was  in  the  actions  of  Belmont,  Fort 
Donelson,  Shiloh  and  Vicksburg,  and  later  served 
in  Louisiana  and  Texas.    John  M.  Palmer  served 


The  Civil  War  and  Its  Aftermath     263 

in  Missouri  in  1861,  at  New  Madrid,  at  Corinth, 
at  Stone's  River  and  Chickamauga,  and  in  Sher- 
man's Atlanta  campaign,  latterly  in  command  of 
the  Fourteenth  Army  Corps.  Later  he  served 
as  Department  Commander  in  Kentucky.  Gen- 
eral John  Pope  earned  at  New  Madrid  and  Cor- 
inth the  reputation  which  gave  him  the  command 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  1862.  His  de- 
feat at  the  Second  Bull  Run  ended  his  active 
career.  Stephen  A.  Hurlbut  fought  as  a  brigadier 
at  Shiloh  and  as  a  major  general  commanded  at 
Memphis  and  in  the  Department  of  the  Gulf. 
Elon  H.  Farnsworth  rose  to  be  a  brigadier  gen- 
eral June  29,  1863.  Four  days  later  he  fell  in 
a  desperate  cavalry  charge  at  Gettysburg.  Rich- 
ard Oglesby  fought  at  Donelson  and  at  Corinth, 
rising  to  the  rank  of  Major  General.  He  was 
severely  wounded  at  Corinth  and  in  1864  re- 
signed to  seek  the  governorship  on  the  Union 
ticket. 

Major  General  John  A.  Logan  well  earned  the 
title  of  the  typical  volunteer  soldier  and  general 
of  the  war.  At  Belmont,  at  Donelson,  where  he 
was  wounded,  at  Vicksburg  and  Resaca,  at  Dallas, 
where  he  was  wounded  again  he  fought  gallantly 
and  commanded  skillfully.  On  the  death  of  Gen- 
eral McPherson  he  succeeded  to  the  command  of 
the  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  On  account  of  Gen- 
eral   George    H.    Thomas'    dislike    for    Logan, 


264  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Thomas  being  the  commander  of  the  Army  of 
the  Cumberland,  Sherman  feared  the  two  men 
could  not  cooperate  and  replaced  Logan  by 
Howard  in  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Ten- 
nessee. Without  complaint  Logan  asked  only  to 
return  to  the  command  of  his  Fifteenth  Army 
Corps  in  the  campaign  before  Atlanta.  Later 
despatched  by  Sherman  to  relieve  Thomas  in  com- 
mand at  Nashville  he  generously  allowed  Thomas 
to  retain  the  command  and  to  fight  the  battle  that 
annihilated  Hood's  army.  It  is  easy  to  under- 
stand why  in  later  years  with  his  old  soldiers 
Logan's  military  career  cloaked  any  and  every 
defect  in  his  civil  record. 

One  man  whom  Illinois  claims  as  her  contri- 
bution to  the  Civil  War  was  to  go  farther  than 
any  of  these  men  in  military  success  and  political 
rewards.  Ulysses  S.  Grant  had  entered  West 
Point  from  Ohio,  had  fought  in  the  Mexican  War 
with  a  good  record,  had  left  the  service  under  a 
cloud  as  the  result  of  intemperance  in  a  lonely  sta- 
tion on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  had  lived  for  some 
years  in  a  cabin  on  the  outskirts  of  St.  Louis,  cast 
off  by  his  father's  family,  supporting  his  wife  and 
children  by  hauling  cord  wood  into  town.  For- 
given by  his  father  and  taken  into  the  leather 
business  with  him  at  Galena  in  Illinois,  soon  after 
the  outbreak  of  war  he  had  found  his  way  to 
Springfield,   where  his  knowledge  of  the   forms 


The  Civil  War  and  Its  Aftermath     265 

of  the  old  regular  army  made  him  valuable  to  the 
military  amateurs  around  Governor  Yates  en- 
gaged in  mustering  the  State  forces.  Put  in  com- 
mand of  an  undisciplined  regiment,  he  had  speed- 
ily reduced  it  to  order.  His  record  around  Cairo 
in  the  fall  of  1861  ensured  his  command  of  the 
army  that  captured  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson, 
and  launched  him  in  his  career.  The  unraveling 
of  the  riddle  of  his  military  success;  whether  it 
was  genius,  stolidity  in  the  face  of  reverses,  abil- 
ity to  gain  the  confidence  of  his  men,  or  the  guid- 
ance of  some  clever  staff  officer,  is  a  question  for 
the  historian  of  the  Civil  War  rather  than  of 
Illinois. 

Of  the  other  military  leaders  of  the  war,  Mc- 
Clernand's  race  in  politics  was  run.  John  Pope 
was  not  to  be  a  major  figure  in  Illinois  politics. 
John  A.  Logan,  his  flirting  with  secession  in  1861 
condoned  or  forgotten,  was  to  stand  as  the  beau 
ideal  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  for  long 
years  of  political  service.  Oglesby,  returning 
wounded,  to  be  elected  governor  in  1864,  was 
thenceforth  the  darling  of  Illinois  politics. 
Palmer  was  later  to  be  governor,  senator,  and 
candidate  for  the  presidency,  a  man  whose  career 
rings  true  on  the  note  not  of  party,  but  of 
principle.  Among  civilians  Richard  Yates  was 
endeared  to  future  generations  as  the  war  gov- 
ernor of  the  state.    He  had  stood  for  the  utmost 


266  The  Story  of  Illinois 

effort  in  the  carrying  on  of  the  war,  had  loyally 
supported  the  administration  throughout,  and 
after  Fort  Donelson  in  1862  had  organized  the 
Illinois  Sanitary  Commission  which  thereafter 
functioned  as  the  Red  Cross  did  in  the  World 
War.  He  shared  the  popularity  of  the  veteran 
generals,  Logan,  Oglesby  and  Palmer,  and  was 
to  be  their  competitor  for  high  office. 

The  first  issues  that  these  men  and  that  Illi- 
nois had  to  meet  in  succeeding  years  were  the  na- 
tional issues  of  reconstruction.  What  was  the 
constitutional  status  of  the  former  confederate 
states?  Conquered  provinces;  or  states  whose 
lawful  governments  had  been  temporarily  un- 
seated by  the  rebellious  confederacy?  Did  they 
have  rights  that  they  could  demand  under  the 
constitution ;  or  was  it  for  the  loyal  states  to  dic- 
tate the  terms  of  their  forgiveness;  what  were 
those  terms  to  be;  and  how  far  was  it  just,  how 
far  expedient  to  grant  the  negroes  citizenship  in 
the  seceded  states,  and  exclude  ex-confederates 
from  it? 

At  the  first,  many  radicals  convinced  that  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  would  be  too  merciful  to  rebels,  re- 
garded as  a  dispensation  of  Providence  his  taking 
off,  and  the  succession  to  the  presidency  of  An- 
drew Johnson,  the  Vice  President,  a  Tennessee 
democrat,  illiterate,  plebeian,  but  loving  the 
Union  and  hating  the  aristocratic  southern  planter 


The  Civil  War  and  Its  Aftermath     267 

rebels.  If  Lincoln  had  been  unwilling  to  chastise 
the  rebels  with  whips  surely  Johnson  would  chas- 
tise them  with  scorpions.  When  Johnson  in  De- 
cember of  1865  announced  a  liberal  presidential 
policy  of  reconstruction,  they  were  undeceived; 
and  radical  men  in  Congress  set  themselves  to 
wrest  out  of  the  President's  hand  the  power  of 
reconstructing  the  southern  states  and  to  do  it 
themselves  by  limiting  southern  representation  to 
voting  population,  organizing  the  negroes  into  a 
republican  political  machine,  and  setting  up  mili- 
tary rule  over  defiant  southern  majorities. 

As  late  as  December  of  1865,  however,  the 
republicans  of  Illinois  were  still  not  definitely  de- 
cided to  drop  Johnson,  and  the  democrats  re- 
solved to  take  him  up.  However,  his  veto  of  the 
civil  rights  and  Freedman's  Bureau  Bills  of  Sen- 
ator Trumbull  embodying  the  congressional  re- 
construction policy,  made  his  conduct  an  issue  in 
the  campaign  of  1866.  Some  former  Illinois  re- 
publicans like  O.  H.  Browning,  soon  to  be  his 
secretary  of  the  interior,  gathered  around  him. 
The  democratic  state  convention  of  1866  adopted 
Johnson  and  his  measures  and  nominated  a  ticket 
of  war  democrats  including  Colonel  T.  Lyle 
Dickey  for  congressman  at  large.  The  republi- 
cans had  previously  nominated  a  ticket  largely 
made  up  of  war  veterans  headed  by  John  A.  Lo- 
gan.    The  contest  between  Logan   and  Dickey 


268  The  Story  of  Illinois 

was  a  savage  one.  Logan's  doubtful  course  in 
1861  was  dragged  to  the  light;  but  all  in  vain. 
The  reconstruction  issue  was  the  main  one;  and 
Illinois,  led  by  her  military  heroes,  her  voting  list 
filled  with  veterans  of  the  war,  was  in  no  mood 
to  listen  to  the  expediency  of  mercy  to  the  south. 
The  eight  hour  day  and  greenback  issues  ad- 
vanced by  the  democrats  could  not  counteract  the 
other  issue;  and  Logan  was  elected  by  a  majority 
of  50,000. 

The  General  Assembly  of  1867  had  the  task 
of  electing  a  senator.  Palmer  with  the  support  of 
Logan  and  Oglesby,  contested  Trumbull's  reelec- 
tion. But  Trumbull's  record  from  the  outset  of 
the  war  v/as  the  exemplification  of  what  the  re- 
publicans had  stood  for  in  the  election  of  1866. 
After  the  state  had  at  their  behest  rebuked  John- 
son for  vetoing  the  Civil  Rights  and  Freedmen's 
Bureau  Bills,  they  could  not  turn  away  from  the 
author  of  these  measures;  and  Trumbull  was  re- 
elected. 

This  was,  however,  the  closing  triumph  of 
Trumbull's  career.  When  Johnson's  opposition 
to  the  congressional  policy  of  construction  led  in 
1868  to  the  attempt  to  impeach  him,  Trumbull 
voted  for  his  acquittal.  With  the  republican 
party  united  on  the  congressional  reconstruction 
policy  and  the  democrats  hopelessly  in  the  minor- 
ity there  was  no  place  for  him  in  Illinois  politics; 


STATUE  OF  STEPHEN  DOUGLAS 

[Courtesy  of  Illinois  State  Historical  Library] 


The  Civil  War  and  Its  Aftermath     269 

and  the  official  career  of  Trumbull,  second  in  im- 
portance in  the  critical  years  only  to  those  of 
Lincoln  and  Douglas,  came  to  an  honorable  end. 

Apart  from  the  issue  of  reconstruction  the  is- 
sues that  came  to  the  front  in  Illinois  in  1868 
were  protection  and  the  currency.  Illinois  was 
still  predominantly  rural,  and  opposed  continued 
protection  by  the  high  revenue  tariffs  of  the  Civil 
War.  The  failure  of  the  republicans  to  put  a  tar- 
iff clause  in  the  platform  helped  them  in  the  state. 
There  was  something  inviting,  on  the  other  hand, 
in  the  "  Ohio  idea "  of  Pendleton,  espoused  by 
the  Illinois  democrats,  that  the  way  to  get  rid  of 
the  war  debts  and  supply  the  scarcity  of  cur- 
rency in  the  West  was  to  pay  the  bonds  off  in 
greenbacks.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  demo- 
cratic national  convention  had  nominated  Horatio 
Seymour,  a  hard  money  man,  the  Illinois  demo- 
crats made  the  best  of  the  greenback  clause  in 
the  platform. 

The  issues  of  the  war,  however,  could  not  be 
put  aside. 

In  the  present  contest,  the  Republicans  unite  in 
demanding  peace  upon  the  basis  of  accomplished 
facts,  and  in  consonance  with  lawfully-enacted 
statutes,  and  in  requiring  the  payment  of  the 
public  debt  with  'the  utmost  good  faith1  to  all: 
while  the  Democracy  sound  the  tocsin  of  insurrec- 
tion  and  threaten   repudiation   in   one   form   or 


2 7°  The  Story  of  Illinois 


another.^  He  who  prefers  a  pacific  and  an  honor- 
able national  policy  will  vote  for  Grant  and  Col- 
fax: he  who  prefers  internecine  war  and 
bankruptcy  will  vote  for  Seymour  and  Blair.1 

A  national  ticket  headed  by  General  Grant  and 
a  state  ticket  by  John  M.  Palmer,  could  not  be 
opposed  by  Horatio  Seymour  and  John  R.  Eden. 
Again  by  a  majority  of  50,000  the  republicans 
were  successful.  The  men  of  the  Civil  War  had 
entered  finally  into  their  own. 

1  Chicago  Tribune,  August  4,  1868. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ECONOMIC    AND    SOCIAL    READJUSTMENT,     1870- 

189O 

THE  rural  prairie  commonwealth  between 
1870  and  1893  underwent  changes  that 
dwarf  those  of  the  preceding  twenty  years.  Popu- 
lation and  industry  developed  according  to  the 
trend  taken  in  1850  it  is  true  but  at  an  accelerated 
rate.  From  early  periods  of  her  statehood  con- 
tinental European  races  had  found  their  way  to 
Illinois  as  the  land  of  promise;  but  now  their 
coming  was  to  be  measured  not  in  thousands,  but 
in  a  thousand  thousands;  and  not  only  the  old 
races,  but  others  whose  habitat  was  as  strange  to 
the  provincial  westerner  as  their  tongues.  The 
first  feeble  beginnings  of  manufactures  developed 
by  the  demands  of  the  Civil  War  were  turning 
into  mightier  and  mightier  industries;  for  some 
products  Illinois  was  becoming  a  world  source  of 
supply.  The  farmer,  even  though  learning  new 
methods,  was  to  find  himself  distanced  in  the  race 
for  production  by  the  newer  lands  to  the  west. 
As  Illinois  strode  toward  supremacy  in  industry 
she  saw  a  competitor  or  two  overtake  her  in 
agriculture.    New  population,  the  necessity  of  ad- 

271 


272  The  Story  of  Illinois 

justing  the  new  industrial  world  to  labor,  the 
farmer's  aspirations  toward  better  things;  all  con- 
tributed to  make  the  period  of  mighty  change  and 
profound  unrest,  which  last  the  party  politicians 
intent  on  their  old  game  of  politics  sought  to 
temporize  with  or  turn  to  their  own  account. 

A  part  of  the  change  in  population  in  the  sev- 
enties and  eighties  was  the  old  phenomenon  of 
native  population  drifting  in  during  one  genera- 
tion and  out  in  the  next.  In  1870  41.7%  of  the 
native  born  in  Illinois  came  from  other  states, 
31.5%  in  1880,  25.7%  in  1890.  In  1870  one- 
fifth  of  the  persons  born  in  Illinois  lived  outside 
the  state,  in  1880  one-fourth,  in  1890  a  little 
more.  The  same  period  in  terms  of  rural  and 
urban  populations  saw  a  drift  to  Chicago.  In 
1870  11.6%  of  the  state's  population  lived  in 
Chicago,  in  1880,  16.3%,  in  1890,  28.7%. 
Meanwhile  the  per  cent  of  population  in  smaller 
places  above  2,500  in  size  grew  from  13.5%  to 
18.6%,  the  distinctively  rural  population  falling 
from  76.6%  to  55.3%.  Nor  is  this  true  in  per- 
centages only.  Since  1870  more  and  more  the 
distinctively  rural  counties  of  the  state  have 
tended  to  lose  population.  This  has  continued 
until  between  1900  and  19 10  one-half  the  coun- 
ties of  Illinois  showed  a  decline  in  population. 
Kendall  was  the  only  one  to  do  so  before  1870, 
but  before  1880  there  were  nine  and  before  1890 


Economic  and  Social  Readjustment    273 

twenty-eight  that  had  done  likewise:,. 

The  foreign  born  population  of  Illinois  showed 
the  most  remarkable  development.  In  1870  there 
were  515,198  foreign  born  in  the  state  of  whom 
almost  225,000  had  been  British  subjects;  203,- 
000  Germans,  45,000  Scandinavians,  4,180  Hol- 
landers, and  8,980  Swiss,  were  of  Germanic 
blood.  By  1890  the  British  element,  including 
Irish,  had  grown  only  to  260,000,  the  German 
element  had  increased  to  338,000,  the  Scandi- 
navian to  126,000.  There  were  now  26,627  Bo- 
hemians,  3,126  Hungarians,  8,407  Russians,  28,- 
878  Poles  in  the  grand  total  of  842,347.  The 
absolute  population  of  the  state  had  measurably 
increased  from  2,539,891  to  3,826,352. 

The  problem  of  course  is  only  partially  stated 
in  the  figures.  The  second  generation  of  these 
races  was  often  as  deeply  inlaid  with  distinctive 
characteristics  as  the  first.  Held  aloof  by  the 
barrier  of  language  they  clung  together  and  were 
easily  exploited  by  demagogues  of  their  own  race. 
In  the  seventies  native  Americans  protested  that 
the  Chicago  city  offices  were  apportioned  among 
the  foreign  groups.  Some  of  them  had  brought 
with  them  not  merely  their  language  but  doctrines 
of  working  class  solidarity,  communism,  social- 
ism, anarchism;  and  in  hard  times  they  were  not 
slow  in  teaching  these  to  American  fellow  labor- 
ers.    Skilled  workmen,  many  of  them,  in  contra- 


274  The  Story  of  Illinois 

distinction  to  American  born  labor,  they  early 
established  trade  unions  and  engaged  in  indus- 
trial war  to  gain  their  share  of  the  profits  of  the 
period  of  industrial  development. 

That  industrial  development  was  a  most  amaz- 
ing thing.  The  Civil  War  had  given  some  en- 
couragement to  manufacture;  in  1870  there  were 
in  the  state  thirty-four  distinct  industries,  the  an- 
nual value  of  whose  products  was  over  $1,000,- 
000.  The  seven  with  output  above  $5,000,000 
are  significant,  flour  and  grist  mill,  meat  packing, 
agricultural  implements,  distilled  liquors,  planed 
lumber,  carriages  and  wagons,  clothing.  With 
one  exception  they  either  prepared  the  products 
of  the  forest  and  farm  for  their  first  use,  or  were 
subservient  to  agriculture. 

The  succeeding  period  saw  other  great  indus- 
tries develop  —  iron  and  steel,  brick  and  clay 
products,  cement,  the  production  of  coal.  The 
last  named  on  the  large  scale  was  an  affair  only 
of  the  seventies  in  Illinois.  Discovered  at  first 
on  the  edges  of  the  Illinois  basin  or  where  rivers 
cut  it,  it  was  only  slowly  that  coal  came  to  be 
taken  from  the  great  interior  fields  of  the  basin. 
The  Franklin  and  Williamson  county  fields  have 
been  developed  since  1890. 

The  Illinois  census  of  1890  showed  thirty-four 
industries  with  products  of  above  $5,000,000. 
By  far  the  greatest  was  the  packing  industry;  next 


Economic  and  Social  Readjustment    275 

after  it  followed  distilled  liquors,  foundry  and 
machine  products,  flour  and  grist  mill,  iron  and 
steel,  men's  clothing,  agricultural  implements, 
lumber  and  carpentering  all  above  $20,000,000. 
Cars,  printing,  furniture,  malt  liquors  followed. 
Since  1870  the  average  number  of  hands  per 
establishment  had  increased  from  6.$  to  15,  the 
number  of  establishments  from  12,597  to  20,482, 
the  number  of  wage  earners  from  82,979,  to  312- 
198,  the  net  value  of  manufactured  products  from 
$78,020,595  to  $379,621,191. 

Statistics  only  unsatisfactorily  convey  the  huge 
growth  of  the  period.  The  little  packing  houses, 
the  little  blacksmith  shops,  the  carriage  shops,  the 
grist  mills  of  the  frontier  community  were  being 
replaced  by  modern  factories,  where  the  employer 
was  no  longer  master,  teacher  and  leader,  but 
lord  of  hundreds  of  hands,  with  problems  of 
labor,  wages,  strikes,  railroad  rates,  rebates,  bank 
credits  all  to  consider  as  factors  of  success  or 
failure. 

First  of  all  came  the  labor  problem.  The 
manufacturer  of  the  seventies  and  eighties  was 
probably  no  harder  in  pushing  wages  down  as 
low  as  possible,  making  labor  take  its  share 
promptly  of  losses  in  a  poor  market,  and  exacting 
long  hours  of  work,  than  the  employer  of  a  past 
generation  had  been.  But  then  there  had  been 
the  land  to  act  as  a  safety  valve  for  the  enter- 


276  The  Story  of  Illinois 

prising,  and  there  had  been  few  laborers  in  a 
trade.  Now  with  labor  clustered  in  large  cities, 
with  the  golden  promise  of  the  boundless  con- 
tinent already  passing,  above  all  with  thousands 
of  German  and  Scandinavian  skilled  workingmen, 
suspicious,  restless,  filled  with  the  ideals  of 
La  Salle  and  Karl  Marx,  conflict  developed  when 
wages  were  lowered  by  stress  of  hard  times. 

The  change  was  first  apparent  in  Chicago  when 
the  boom  years  of  the  Civil  War  period  slumped 
into  the  panic  of  1873  and  men  were  out  of  work. 
The  red  flag  appeared  on  the  streets;  in  January 
of  1874  the  workingmen's  party  of  Illinois  was 
launched;  its  demands  at  first  were  studiously 
moderate  in  hope  of  gaining  the  support  of  the 
farmers  —  the  eight  hour  day,  no  child  labor,  no 
prison  labor  save  on  public  works,  compulsory 
education,  state  management  of  means  of  trans- 
portation and  saving  banks,  direct  taxes,  recall 
of  public  officers;  but  behind  those  demands  was 
the  extreme  ideal  of  the  communist  state. 

The  continual  reduction  of  wages  all  through 
the  period  of  1873-77  only  added  fuel  to  the  fire 
already  kindled.  In  1877  a  strike  of  Michigan 
Central  switchmen  threatened  to  become  a  gen- 
eral strike.  Nineteen  men  were  killed  in  contests 
with  the  police.  Defeat  in  the  strike  caused  the 
radical  element  to  turn  again  to  political  action; 
under  the  name  of  the  socialist  labor  party  they 


Economic  and  Social  Readjustment    277 

elected  two  aldermen  in  Chicago  in  the  spring  of 
1878,  and  four  members  of  the  General  Assembly 
in  the  fall.  The  movement  had  long  since  de- 
veloped its  newspapers,  most  of  them  in  German. 
In  the  movement  the  German  element  seemed 
generally  to  stand  for  direct  action  and  commu- 
nism in  contrast  to  the  more  opportunist  native 
Americans. 

Meanwhile  trade  unionism  proper  had  been  de- 
veloping; its  first  form  was  that  of  craft  unions 
among  the  skilled  foreign  workers  who  led  the 
way  in  this  sort  of  organization.  In  1877  Albert 
A.  Parsons  had  been  elected  first  president  of  the 
group  of  crafts  unions  that  was  finally  to  develop 
into  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  By  1877 
also  the  Knights  of  Labor  had  established  their 
first  locals  in  Illinois.  A  secret  organization  of 
the  labor  union  type,  its  demands  were  the  eight 
hour  day,  weekly  pay,  mechanics  lien  laws,  arbi- 
tration, limitation  of  child  labor  and  prison  labor, 
equal  pay  for  both  sexes,  and  Greenbackism.  Like 
most  labor  unions  of  the  type  it  attracted  the  less 
skilled  class  of  labor. 

The  trade  union  movement  soon  became  in- 
volved with  anarchism.  New  economic  and  po- 
litical doctrines,  far  removed  from  those  the 
pioneer  state  had  learned  at  the  feet  of  John 
Adams  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  were  being  brought 
to  her  borders  by  her  new  citizens.    In  1881  there 


27 8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

was  organized  the  International  Working  Peo- 
ple's Association,  a  branch  of  a  London  anarchist 
organization.  It  drew  to  itself  more  radical  ele- 
ments, aiming  at  the  establishment  by  force  of 
the  ideal  federation  of  producing  communities. 
Its  members  used  older  associations  for  military 
drill  as  an  army;  its  newspaper  began  to  print 
articles  on  the  use  of  dynamite.  Chicago  had  the 
dubious  honor  of  being  the  center  of  the  radical 
labor  movement  in  the  United  States. 

Between  1879  and  1882  a  series  of  strikes  for 
higher  wages  had  taken  place.  The  packers  had 
struck  in  1880  for  recognition  of  their  organiza- 
tion, had  been  beaten  and  not  taken  back.  In 
February,  1886,  a  struggle  began  at  the  McCor- 
mick  works  in  Chicago  over  the  principle  of  the 
closed  shop.  McCormick  locked  out  his  work- 
ingmen.  The  press,  formerly  inclined  to  favor 
the  eight  hour  day,  now  turned  as  the  radical  in- 
tent of  the  movement  developed  under  the  preach- 
ing of  such  papers  as  the  ArbeitcrZeitung.  There 
was  a  great  riot  at  the  McCormick  plant  May  3, 
Hatred  of  the  police  and  the  Pinkerton  detectives 
was  at  fever  heat;  and  the  Haymarket  riot  was 
the  result.  A  great  meeting  had  been  held  in  the 
old  Haymarket  of  Chicago,  where  formerly  the 
statue  of  a  policeman,  now  in  Union  Park,  com- 
memorated the  tragedy.  A  meeting  addressed  by 
Parsons  and  others  was  outwardly  quiet.     The 


Economic  and  Social  Readjustment    279 

police  attempted  to  disperse  it  and  a  bomb  was 
thrown  in  their  ranks  causing  heavy  loss  of  life. 

The  horror  of  the  community  at  the  outrage 
condoned  measures  against  the  anarchist  leaders 
that  overstepped  the  bounds  of  Anglo  Saxon  lib- 
erty. For  the  eight  men  sentenced  for  the  crime 
no  direct  connection  with  the  throwing  of  the 
bomb  or  direct  advice  of  its  use  could  be  estab- 
lished. All  that  could  be  proved  was  that  their 
utterances  were  such  as  might  be  supposed  to  pro- 
voke violence.  Parsons  and  three  other  men  went 
to  the  gallows;  three  other  men  sentenced  to  im- 
prisonment were  pardoned  by  Governor  Altgeld. 

The  labor  problem  nevertheless  had  passed  the 
worst  stage.  The  development  of  the  nineties 
was  twofold.  In  the  one  direction  moved  the  ad- 
vocates of  political  action,  the  adherents  of  the 
various  labor  and  socialist  parties,  and  such  labor 
unions  as  the  present  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
World;  on  the  other  hand  the  skilled  crafts,  af- 
filiated through  national  trades  unions  with  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  generally  es- 
chewed political  action  save  to  obtain  the  modi- 
fication of  laws  and  decisions  calculated  to  pre- 
vent their  use  of  the  strike  and  the  boycott  to  ob- 
tain shorter  hours,  higher  wages,  and  better  work- 
ing conditions ;  avowedly  their  goal  is  now  "  more, 
more,  more."  However,  the  Chicago  Federation 
of  Labor  has  always  tended  to  be  somewhat  more 


280  The  Story  of  Illinois 

radical  than  the  national  federation.  Most  of  the 
demands  that  seemed  extreme  in  the  seventies  and 
eighties  have  long  since  been  adopted  by  the  com- 
munity by  acquiescence  or  legislation. 

The  generation  had  its  financial  problem  as 
well  as  its  labor  problem.  The  old  state  banking 
system,  based  on  note  issues  secured  by  bonds,  had 
passed  away  in  the  time  of  the  Civil  War.  Its 
place  had  been  taken  partly  by  the  new  national 
banking  system,  partly  by  specially  chartered 
banks  and  private  banking  corporations.  The  na- 
tional system  was  under  a  certain  degree  of  super- 
vision, but  not  the  state  or  private  banks.  Fail- 
ures were  numerous.  Both  national  and  state 
banks  went  down  in  the  panic  of  1873.  Four 
years  later  a  group  of  savings  banks  failed  through 
incompetence  or  fraud.  In  1887  tne  state  finally 
adopted  a  general  banking  law,  and  forced  the 
state  banks  in  existence  to  accept  its  provisions; 
but  a  savings  bank  act  passed  in  the  same  year 
was  declared  unconstitutional  because  it  was  not 
submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people. 

Among  the  poorer  classes  generally  there  was 
much  distrust  of  banks,  much  belief  that  the  issue 
of  bank  note  currency  was  a  profitable  business 
that  the  government  should  take  over  itself  by  the 
issue  of  greenbacks.  Accompanying  the  period 
of  high  prices  there  had  been  currency  expansion 
by  greenbacks  in  the  days  of  the  Civil  War.    Men 


Economic  and  Social  Readjustment    281 

looked  back  to  it  with  regret  in  the  period  of  fall- 
ing prices  after  1873.  They  ascribed  them  to  the 
contraction  of  the  currency  at  the  behest  of  Wall 
Street  financiers  and  eastern  creditors,  undertaken 
that  the  government  and  their  western  debtors 
might  be  compelled  to  pay  in  dollars  growing 
dearer  and  dearer  in  purchasing  power;  accord- 
ingly the  debtors  clamored  for  more  money  and 
cheaper  money;  the  reversal  of  "the  crime  of 
'73  "  by  which  the  silver  dollar  was  alleged  to 
have  been  demonetized;  the  issue  of  more  green- 
backs. Both  demands  appear  in  many  reform 
and  radical  programs  of  the  day. 

Even  more  pressing  than  the  problem  of  the 
banks  and  the  currency  was  that  of  the  railroads. 
The  manufacturer  who  ordered  his  raw  materials 
and  delivered  his  products  over  them,  the  farmer 
who  shipped  his  grain  and  hogs,  the  passenger 
who  rode  on  them,  the  local  tax  payer  whose 
county  had  subscribed  to  their  bonds,  each  and 
all  had  grievances,  and  sought  in  one  way  or  an- 
other to  redress  them. 

Decade  after  decade  had  seen  the  railroad  net 
woven  closer  across  the  state.  From  1879  to 
1884  it  increased  from  7578  to  8904  miles.  By 
1893  no  land  in  the  state  was  so  much  as  twenty 
miles  from  a  railroad;  85%  of  the  land  was 
within  four  miles  of  one.  From  the  beginning 
the  cooperation  of  local  communities  had  been 


282  The  Story  of  Illinois 

enlisted  in  the  building  of  railroads.  This  had 
been  stimulated  by  the  "tax  grab"  act  of  1869, 
which  allowed  counties  to  deduct  from  the  in- 
creased revenue  from  increased  land  values  the 
interest  due  on  their  bond  subsidies  to  the 
railroads  that  had  presumably  caused  the  in- 
crease. Probably  $20,000,000  in  such  bonds 
were  out.  Many  of  them  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  speculators  rather  than  railroad 
builders,  and  when  in  1874  the  law  was  declared 
unconstitutional  the  burden  of  the  bonds  fell  on 
the  communities  that  issued  them.  The  roads  had 
some  fine  palace,  dining,  sleeping,  and  chair  cars 
for  display;  but  at  the  beginning  of  the  period 
we  are  considering  unvestibuled  trains  light 
enough  in  tonnage  to  run  over  unballasted  mud 
road  beds  on  iron  T  rails  were  the  usual  thing. 
The  state  railroad  and  warehouse  commission 
established  by  the  act  of  1871 — the  first  com- 
mission in  the  United  States  established  to 
regulate  warehouses,  and  the  first  after  Massachu- 
setts to  regulate  railroads  —  for  years  strove  for 
ballasted  tracks  laid  with  steel  rails,  guarded 
crossings,  flag  men,  gates,  and  vestibule  trains. 
By  1885  in  these  respects  it  had  gained  its  ends. 
Otherwise  it  had  been  less  successful.  Rates 
for  passengers  and  freight  were  what  the  traffic 
would  bear  and  no  less.  To  competing  points 
freight  receipts  were  pooled.      In    1876   a  pool 


Economic  and  Social  Readjustment    283 

of  lines  to  the  East  charged  heavier  rates  from 
Chicago  to  the  East  than  from  Quincy,  and  Wis- 
consin and  Minnesota  points.  The  Wabash,  Chi- 
cago and  Alton,  and  Illinois  Central  had  another 
pool  for  all  competing  points  in  the  state.  Other 
points  paid  enough  to  compensate.  The  railroads 
openly  defied  the  rate  regulations  of  the  commis- 
sion; carloads  of  farmers,  paying  only  the  legal 
fare,  were  cut  out  of  trains  and  left  on  sidings; 
sometimes  the  farmers  drew  revolvers  and  knives 
on  the  train  men.  More  than  to  passenger  fares 
of  course  they  objected  to  the  charges  for  hauling 
produce.  In  1873,  C.  B.  Lawrence  of  the  Illinois 
Supreme  Court  on  a  rate  regulation  case  declared 
the  act  of  1871  contrary  to  the  state  Constitution. 
The  legislature  reenacted  it;  and  the  farmers  aris- 
ing in  wrath  deposed  Judge  Lawrence  at  the  next 
election.  The  crux  of  the  problem,  however,  was 
not  the  intrastate  but  the  interstate  rate;  and 
that  remained  untouched  till  the  federal  interstate 
commerce  act  of  1887. 

The  public  turned  to  water  competition  to 
regulate  railroad  rates,  but  had  only  partial  suc- 
cess. Traffic  on  the  Mississippi  declined  before 
railroad  competition.  In  the  seventies  and 
eighties  men  looked  to  the  Illinois  and  Michigan 
Canal  and  the  Illinois  River  route  as  a  possible 
means  of  keeping  down  railroad  rates.  To  a  cer- 
tain extent  it  succeeded  in  doing  so;  but  after 


284  The  Story  of  Illinois 

1880  the  canal  was  run  at  a  loss;  the  Illinois  River 
traffic  steadily  declined.  The  Hennepin  Canal  un- 
dertaken in  this  period  to  connect  the  Illinois  at 
Hennepin  with  the  Mississippi  River,  when  final- 
ly opened  in  1907,  was  practically  worthless. 
The  Great  Lakes  offered  more  competition. 
True  the  railroads  secured  most  of  the  flour  ship- 
ments to  the  East  but  from  1870  to  1889  an  in- 
creasing amount  of  wheat  and  corn  was  sent  east 
from  Chicago  by  boat.  For  many  years  the  lum- 
ber schooner  maintained  her  place  on  the  lake; 
but  as  we  shall  see  before  the  end  of  the  period 
Chicago  had  yielded  her  supremacy  as  a  market 
and  shipping  point  for  both  grain  and  lumber. 

The  warehouse  offered  still  another  type  of 
problem.  The  warehouse  men  charged  excessive 
rates  for  warehousing  and  were  suspected  of 
fraud  in  grading  and  weighing  grain.  The  con- 
stitutionality of  the  state  statute  and  of  the 
regulations  of  the  Railroad  and  Warehouse  Com- 
mission was  finally  upheld  in  Munn  vs.  Illinois,  in 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  1876;  the 
leader  of  the  so-called  Granger  cases.  The  name 
may  serve  to  introduce  a  study  of  farms  and  farm- 
ers in  the  state  leading  up  to  the  state  grange  and 
cognate  farmers'  organizations. 

The  period  has  already  been  characterized  as 
one  in  which  the  industry  of  the  state  was  rising 
to  the  first  rank  in  the  Union  and  its  agriculture 


SktTCH    MAI'  OF  ILLINOIS 


Economic  and  Social  Readjustment    205 

slipping  back  from  it.  In  1870  more  than  one- 
half  the  employed  population  of  the  state  was  en- 
gaged in  agriculture,  in  1890  less  than  one-third, 
and  this  even  though  the  farm  area  and  the 
amount  of  cereals  raised  actually  increased.  In 
absolute  amount,  however,  Illinois  was  compelled 
to  yield  the  palm  to  the  Dakotas,  Nebraska  and 
Kansas;  and  her  production  declined  after  1881. 
Illinois'  farming,  however,  improved.  The  prim- 
itive farm  of  the  backwoods,  distanced  long  since 
by  competition,  was  beginning  to  develop.  The 
farmer  was  buying  machinery;  he  was  demanding 
opportunities  to  market  his  produce  that  would 
give  him  his  fair  share  of  the  comforts  of  life. 
The  reaper,  the  binder,  the  hay  tedder,  the  grain 
drill  were  all  increasing  the  production  of  Illinois 
farms,  even  though  the  proportion  of  labor  was 
declining.  Better  brands  of  dairy  cattle,  of  beef 
cattle,  of  hogs  were  being  used;  sheep  had  reached 
their  maximum  number  in  the  state  in  1865  — 
3,000,000. 

Tenant  farming  was  on  the  increase,  an  omi- 
nous sign.  In  1880,  31.4%  of  Illinois  farms  were 
operated  by  tenants,  in  1890,  34%  ;  the  possession 
of  211,000  acres  of  such  farms  by  a  British  sub- 
ject, William  Scully,  who  introduced  Irish 
methods  of  absentee  landlordism  and  rack  renting 
was  responsible  for  the  law  of  1887  against  alien 
land  ownership. 


286  The  Story  of  Illinois 

The  dissatisfaction  and  unrest  among  farmers 
in  the  age  of  transition  and  change  is  illustrated 
by  the  formation  of  farmers'  associations  of  one 
sort  or  another.  Already  the  organization  of  the 
farmers  of  the  state  had  been  used  by  Jonathan  B. 
Turner  to  secure  the  foundation  of  the  agricul- 
tural colleges  for  their  benefit  under  the  Morrill 
act.  In  1867  at  Washington,  D.  C,  the  organi- 
zation known  as  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry  was 
formed.  Organized  into  state  and  local  granges, 
with  degrees  for  both  men  and  women,  it  came 
to  Illinois  in  1868,  and  flourished  between  1872 
and  1874.  One  of  its  purposes  was  to  buy  agri- 
cultural machinery  for  members  at  a  discount. 
Montgomery  Ward  and  Company  of  Chicago, 
establishing  a  Grange  supply  house,  was  the  first 
of  the  long  line  of  mail  order  houses.  The  well- 
to-do  elements  of  the  rural  community  were  in- 
clined to  look  on  the  grangers  with  contempt;  but 
the  grangers  persisted.  Naturally  the  farmers  in 
their  war  on  railroads  and  warehouses  upheld  the 
hands  of  the  state  railroad  and  warehouse  com- 
mission. In  1874  they  defeated  the  judges  who 
threw  out  the  commission's  suits;  in  that  same 
year  an  antimonopolist  movement  begun  among 
them  under  the  leadership  of  Turner  and  John 
M.  Palmer  elected  a  fusion  superintendent  of 
public  instruction  and  nine  independents  to  the 
legislature. 


Economic  and  Social  Readjustment    287 

This  marked  for  a  time  the  high  water  mark  of 
farmer  activity.  For  a  time  thereafter  the  farm- 
ers realigned  themselves  in  republican,  democratic 
and  greenback  camps;  but  they  had  found  a 
weapon  and  could  use  it  again.  In  1 890  the  Farm- 
ers Mutual  Benefit  Association  elected  fifty  farm- 
er assemblymen,  both  republican  and  democratic. 
Operating  within  the  old  parties  it  could  make  its 
demands  effective. 

These  were  but  a  few  of  the  greater  problems 
of  the  period;  at  every  point  the  amazing  develop- 
ment and  change  of  the  new  commonwealth  pre- 
sented its  problems  to  be  mastered.  Ever  since 
the  forties  the  state's  educational  system  had  been 
broadening.  To  the  little  colleges  of  the  pioneer 
period  Northwestern  University  had  been  added 
in  1855,  and  the  old  University  of  Chicago  in 
1857.  In  the  same  years  Jonathan  B.  Turner 
was  gaining  popular  support  for  his  ideal  of  an 
industrial  university,  where  youth  might  secure 
technical  and  scientific  training  to  turn  to  account 
in  the  development  of  agriculture  and  industry. 
The  idea  finally  bore  fruit  in  the  Morrill  Land 
Grant  Act  of  1862  which  granted  to  each  state 
lands  in  proportion  to  its  representation  in  Con- 
gress for  colleges  of  agriculture  and  the  mechanic 
arts.  The  Illinois  denominational  colleges  sought 
to  divide  the  largess  among  themselves,  but 
Turner  won  his  fight  for  the  endowment  of  a  new 


288  The  Story  of  Illinois 

institution.  The  Illinois  Industrial  University 
chartered  by  the  legislature  in  1867  was  located 
at  Urbana,  thanks  to  adroit  political  manipulation 
on  the  part  of  the  local  assemblyman.  Before 
1870  its  first  regent,  John  Milton  Gregory,  had 
laid  the  foundation  not  merely  of  a  technical 
school,  but  of  a  college  of  liberal  arts  as  well. 

The  Illinois  Industrial  University  at  first  passed 
through  troublous  times.  Its  revenues  were  small; 
it  was  criticised  keenly  by  the  interests  it  was 
supposed  to  serve;  it  was  almost  overshadowed  by 
some  of  the  older  denominational  institutions  such 
as  Northwestern,  Knox,  and  Illinois  College.  The 
change  of  name  to  the  University  of  Illinois  in 
1885  seemed  to  help  little.  Not  until  the  nineties 
did  the  series  of  state  appropriations  begin  that 
has  lifted  the  institution  to  the  foremost  rank 
of  the  western  universities. 

In  primary  and  secondary  school  education 
progress  from  1850  to  1893  was  continuous.  By 
the  former  year,  men  had  come  to  regard  as  in- 
adequate the  old  schools  held  a  few  weeks,  taught 
by  men  fitted  for  nothing  else,  out  of  any  and  all 
books  available,  and  enforcing  their  precepts  with 
the  rod.  In  the  cities  at  least  the  little  red  school 
house  was  being  replaced  by  the  more  modern 
school  building  and  the  haphazard  teacher  by  the 
trained  professional.  School  societies,  school 
magazines  appeared,  pleading  the  cause  of  uni- 


Economic  and  Social  Readjustment    289 

form  and  standardized  education.  The  designat- 
ing of  the  Secretary  of  State  as  Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction  in  1845  and  the  creation  of 
an  independent  officer  in  1854  had  been  earnests 
that  a  state  system  would  soon  come.  The  first 
superintendent,  Ninian  W.  Edwards,  drew  up  a 
comprehensive  free  school  bill  providing  for  the 
support  of  schools  by  state  wide  taxation.  It 
passed  in  1855.  The  normal  school  appeared  in 
1857.  By  1870  the  first  public  high  schools  could 
stand  comparison  with  the  best  private  academies. 
Their  opponents  in  vain  raised  the  cry  of  extrava- 
gance and  the  education  of  a  select  few  at  public 
expense. 

The  school  problems  of  the  seventies  and 
eighties  revolved  around  the  question  of  the  paro- 
chial school.  The  convention  of  1 869-1 870  had 
omitted  from  the  new  constitution  provisions  for 
the  reading  of  the  bible  and  religious  instruction 
in  the  public  schools  of  the  state;  it  had  expressly 
forbidden  the  deflection  to  parochial  schools  of  a 
part  of  the  school  funds.  This  last,  however, 
was  urged  as  an  act  of  justice  to  those  who  paid 
school  tax  but  whose  consciences  compelled  them 
to  send  their  children  to  schools  where  religious 
instruction  was  given.  The  idea  of  the  public 
non-religious  school  prevailed,  however.  In  1883 
and  1887  were  passed  the  state's  first  compulsory 
education  laws. 


290  The  Story  of  Illinois 

In  the  seventies  and  eighties  Chicago  and  to 
a  lesser  extent  the  rest  of  the  state  was  develop- 
ing new  means  of  recreation  and  enjoyment. 
Since  1865  it  had  had  intermittent  Grand  Opera; 
its  musical  organizations  such  as  the  Apollo  Club, 
and  its  recital  halls  and  theaters  multiplied.  There 
were  more  obvious  kinds  of  amusement.  In  1878 
horse  racing  began  on  an  organized  scale.  Base- 
ball was  still  older  and  was  passing  through  phases 
more  recently  familiar.  The  Chicago  Tribune, 
November  3,  1877,  said: 

The  disclosures  contained  in  our  columns  this 
morning,  of  the  rascality  practiced  by  prominent 
members  of  some  of  the  leading  base-ball  nines 
of  the  country  can  be  accepted  as  unfailing  evi- 
dence that  the  game  of  base-ball  which  for  nearly 
ten  years  has  enjoyed  a  remarkable  popularity  has 
virtually  collapsed,  so  far  as  the  maintenance  of 
paid  professional  clubs  is  concerned.  The  Louis- 
ville and  St.  Louis  Clubs  are  presumably  not  the 
only  ones  which  have  been  corrupted  by  the 
gamblers  into  machines  for  swindling,  and  now 
that  investigations  are  the  order  of  the  day  they 
should  not  stop  until  a  general  exposure  is  brought 
about.  If  the  dead  game  is  to  be  buried  in  dis- 
grace let  all  the  assassins  be  buried  with  it. 

Yet  four  years  later  August  28,  1881,  the 
Tribune  had  to  admit  that  Chicago  is  the  principal 
supporter  of  the  ball  game;  the  clubs  from  other 
places  come  here  in  order  to  share  the  receipts,  or 


£j-zoha^c$>j 


(1775-1833) 
[From  original  painting  owned   by   Chicago   Historical   Society] 


Economic  and  Social  Readjustment    291 

the  "  gate-money,"  and  from  their  earnings  here 
eke  out  the  scant  receipts  at  the  other  towns.  It 
is  not  an  unusual  thing  to  have  4,000  to  6,000 
idlers  at  a  game  in  Chicago;  the  number  has 
reached  8,000,  and  rarely  even  less  than  2,000  or 
3,000.  At  other  places  the  number  of  visitors 
ranges  from  300,  to  1,000,  the  latter  being  a  fair 
maximum  outside  of  Chicago. 

The  period  of  the  seventies  was  ushered  in  by 
the  Great  Fire  of  1871.  The  Chicago  of  that 
year  was  a  timber  built  city,  dried  by  the  hot 
prairie  winds  of  summer  to  a  tinder  box.  Octo- 
ber 9,  1 87 1,  a  fire  starting  on  the  old  west  side 
carried  by  a  high  wind  laid  all  the  central  portion 
of  the  city  in  ashes,  killing  250  people,  leaving 
92,000  homeless,  destroying  $187,929,000  prop- 
erty. Other  cities  looked  forward  to  profiting. 
Quincy,  under  the  call  of  Orville  H.  Browning, 
held  a  meeting  to  consider  attracting  part  of  Chi- 
cago's trade.  But  the  city  was  rebuilt  more  solid- 
ly than  before;  the  indomitable  spirit  of  the  men 
of  the  day  carried  all  before  it.  "  I  have  seen 
men  who  have  lost  their  millions"  wrote  an  ob- 
server, ubut  not  one  who  sat  down  and  wept."  In 
the  same  spirit  with  which  Chicago  met  the  dis- 
aster of  1 87 1,  the  commonwealth  of  which  she 
was  the  center,  met  the  perplexing  problems 
caused  by  the  new  growth  of  the  generation;  with 
courage  and  an  ever  increasing  intelligence. 


292  The  Story  of  Illinois 

If  the  Great  Fire  ushered  in  the  period  with  a 
challenge  to  Chicago's  courage,  the  World's  Fair 
of  1893  closed  it  with  an  appeal  to  her  finer  per- 
ceptions. For  eight  years  Chicago  organizations 
devoted  themselves  to  the  project  of  a  Fair  to 
celebrate  the  four-hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
landing  of  Columbus.  Congressional  support  had 
to  be  engaged  and  other  cities  aspiring  to  hold 
the  Exposition  had  to  be  maneuvered  out  of  the 
running.  A  city  subscription  of  $10,000,000  as- 
sured her  triumph.  The  fair  was  postponed  to 
1893,  and  then  opened,  a  series  of  dazzling  white 
buildings  with  a  few  more  somber  and  solid 
scattered  amidst  the  lawns  and  lagoons  of  Jack- 
son Park  by  the  waters  of  the  lake.  In  its  scope, 
in  the  area  it  covered,  in  the  volume  of  exhibits, 
in  the  number  of  visitors  it  set  new  standards. 
More  important  still  in  the  achievement  of  beauty 
in  its  outward  form,  an  achievement  still  to  be 
sensed  in  the  decaying  classic  loveliness  of  the  old 
Field  Museum  in  Jackson  Park,  it  promised  a 
new  era  for  city,  state  and  nation  alike  in  which 
material  accomplishment  should  be  expressed  in 
outward  grace. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

TWO  DECADES  OF  PARTY  POLITICS 

THE  politics  of  1870-90  seem  remote  from 
the  real  questions  of  the  period.  While 
the  state  was  struggling  with  a  series  of  problems 
caused  by  its  growth  the  state  parties  were  con- 
tending on  issues  of  the  Civil  War  and  reconstruc- 
tion, appealing  to  old  partisan  loyalties,  parading 
enthusiasm  to  certain  striking  personalities,  and 
using  the  vital  state  issues  only  as  stalking  horses. 
Only  occasionally  does  a  man  like  Palmer  appear, 
with  an  appreciation  of  the  deeper  questions  of 
the  time;  and  necessarily  he  walks  athwart  regular 
party  lines  in  his  course. 

The  republican  party  of  1870  was  not  by  any 
means  the  republican  party  of  1854,  of  1856,  or 
even  of  i860.  Democratic  converts  like  Logan 
had  entered  it  to  outdo  in  vehemence  the  founders 
and  make  them  feel  out  of  place.  Because  a  man 
had  the  type  of  mind  that  sensed  danger  from  an 
aggressive  slave  power  in  1856,  he  was  not  neces- 
sarily disposed  in  1870,  not  to  let  the  beaten  South 
escape  until  it  had  paid  the  uttermost  farthing. 
Such  men  could  see  too  many  unclean  spirits 
that  had  fattened  off  the  blood  of  the  men  who 

293 


294  The  Story  of  Illinois 

had  given  their  lives  to  the  Union,  clustering 
around  the  party  for  protection.  Tariff  protected 
manufacturers,  financial  manipulators  who  had 
grown  rich  during  the  Civil  War  were  shouting 
the  most  lustily  for  the  ideals  of  i860  although 
when  those  ideals  had  been  at  stake  other  men 
had  struggled  and  sacrificed  for  them.  The  liberal 
republican  movement  represented  a  protest  for 
cleaner  politics  and  the  freeing  the  party  from 
the  big  business  men  and  protectionists  who  dom- 
inated it. 

The  election  of  1870  passed  without  much  com- 
ment. The  disaffected  republicans  supported  the 
democrat,  S.  S.  Hayes,  for  congressman  at  large 
against  John  L.  Beveridge;  but  Beveridge  won 
handily  by  20,000.  The  senatorial  election  of 
1870  resolved  itself  into  a  contest  between  two 
Civil  War  heroes,  popular,  lovable  and  beloved 
men  both,  Richard  J.  Oglesby  and  John  A.  Logan, 
in  which  Logan  was  successful.  Logan,  the 
"black  eagle,"  had  atoned  for  his  earlier  democ- 
racy and  copperheadism  by  his  gallantry  in  the 
war;  he  was  the  ideal  of  the  old  soldier.  To  be 
told  that  John  A.  Logan  needed  his  vote  would 
bring  a  negro  or  old  soldier  voter  out  under  any 
circumstance.  That  Logan  was  accused  of  spoils 
politics,  and  was  vehement  rather  than  statesman- 
like made  no  difference  to  his  admirers. 

There  were  men  in  his  party  who  saw  him  in 


Two  Decades  of  Party  Politics        295 

a  different  and  less  favorable  light.  "Logan," 
the  Chicago  Tribune,  quoted  January  22,  1879: 

Is  a  sort  of  Republican  Voorhees.  A  dema- 
gogue originally  of  the  same  breezy,  primitive 
Western  type,  though  by  reason  of  being  a  Re- 
publican demagogue  under  the  restraint  of  the 
somewhat  more  intelligent  opinion  of  his  party, 
in  a  section  which  it  must  be  confessed  is  not  dis- 
tinguished among  the  nations  of  the  earth  by  a 
high  grade  of  popular  intelligence,  with  the 
physical  traits  and  bearing  which  romancers  are 
fond  of  attributing  to  their  heroes,  the  swarthy, 
long-haired,  and  black-eyed  political  General  and 
martial  politician  —  who  still  carries  on  the  War 
against  the  Rebellion  in  full  regimentals  at  the 
head  of  his  corps  in  the  politics  of  Illinois  —  im- 
presses the  popular  imagination  of  the  Suckers 
more  as  a  fine  martial  figure  sustaining  intimate 
and  patriotic  relations  with  the  American  Eagle 
than  by  his  intellectual  qualities  or  his  value  as  a 
political  leader.  He  is  a  half-educated,  distin- 
guished-looking humbug,  with  a  gift  of  meretri- 
cious glibness  on  the  stump,  whose  smooth  and  so- 
norous inconsequences  pass  for  eloquence  and  wis- 
dom with  the  popular  audiences 

There  was  widespread  dissatisfaction  with  the 
national  administration  under  Grant,  the  gold 
ring,  the  whisky  ring,  the  various  other  scandals 
developing,  the  appointments  of  members  of 
Grant's  family  to  office,  the  abrogation  of  the 
civil  service  principle.    Even  the  Chicago  Tribune 


296  The  Story  of  Illinois 


became  independent.  A  general  revolt  against 
the  Grant  administration  impended,  led  by  John 
M.  Palmer,  Lyman  Trumbull,  John  Wentworth, 
Jesse  W.  Fell,  and  Judge  David  Davis.  Palmer 
had  already  crossed  blades  with  Grant  in  behalf 
of  the  dignity  of  the  state  when  the  president  at 
the  time  of  the  Chicago  fire  had  sent  troops  to 
Chicago  without  their  being  requested  by  the 
governor.  At  the  Cincinnati  Liberal  Republican 
convention  Davis  and  Trumbull  both  claimed  the 
support  of  the  Illinois  delegation.  The  delegation 
split  its  vote  between  them;  then,  because  it 
hesitated  too  long  in  turning  to  Charles  Francis 
Adams  of  Massachusetts,  the  nomination  fell  to 
Horace  Greeley.  There  was  little  chance  of 
carrying  the  republicans  of  the  West,  dissatisfied 
with  republican  high  tariffs,  for  an  ardent  protec- 
tionist like  Greeley.  The  democrats  in  Illinois  as 
elsewhere  endorsed  the  ticket  in  spite  of  Greeley's 
long  whig  and  republican  record;  but  without  en- 
thusiasm. 

In  the  state  race  Oglesby  and  Beveridge  ran 
on  the  republican  ticket  for  Governor  and  Lieu- 
tenant Governor.  To  oppose  Oglesby  liberal 
republican  and  democratic  conventions  meeting  in 
Springfield  and  working  in  harmony  nominated 
Gustavus  Koerner.  This  placated  the  Germans; 
but  the  farmers,  the  discontented  element  in  which 
alone  lay  the  chance  of  liberal  republican  success 


Two  Decades  of  Party  Politics        297 

did  not  expect  more  of  their  desired  legislation 
from  democrats  than  from  republicans;  and  the 
convention  platform  evaded  the  tariff  issue.  Ogles- 
by  won  on  the  state  and  Grant  on  the  national 
ticket,  Grant's  vote  running  241,936  to  184,884, 
The  result  showed  the  state  was  still  republican, 
tariff  and  all. 

Oglesby  in  1873  accepted  election  to  the  senate, 
leaving  Beveridge  to  fill  out  his  term  as  governor; 
"the  quiet-mannered  and  wonderfully  astute  gray- 
beard  now  rattling  around  in  the  Governor's 
chair,"  the  Cairo  Bulletin  called  him.  In  1876, 
however,  Beveridge  lost  the  nomination  for  gover- 
nor to  Shelby  M.  Cullom.  The  democrats  en- 
dorsed the  Greenback  candidates  for  governor 
and  auditor,  Lewis  Steward  and  John  Hise,  and 
nominated  their  own  men  for  other  offices;  Green- 
backism  was  the  thing  they  had  to  trust  now  to 
break  the  republican  strength  as  they  had  trusted 
liberal  republicanism  four  years  before.  The 
Greenback  movement  offered  a  strong  appeal  to 
the  state.  Farmers,  vainly  seeking  loans,  pressed 
to  find  interest  to  pay  on  mortgages,  easily  lis- 
tened to  charges  that  there  was  not  enough  money 
in  the  country.  Wage  earners,  counting  their  few 
dollars  pay  were  reminded  of  the  flush  days  of  the 
sixties  when  greenbacks  flourished  and  apparently 
wages  were  high.  So  strong  was  the  demand  for 
inflation,  that  democrats  began  to  have  hope  of 


298  The  Story  of  Illinois 

success,  especially  with  an  anti-temperance  cam- 
paign to  draw  the  German  vote  from  the  republi- 
cans. 

In  the  end  Cullom  and  Hayes  carried  the  state 
by  a  narrow  margin.  Cullom  had  but  7,000  ma- 
jority, not  an  eighth  of  what  Grant  had  four  years 
before.  In  the  Illinois  legislature  the  Greenback 
group  held  the  balance  of  power.  Palmer  and 
Logan  contested  the  senatorship;  but  eventually 
the  democrats  turned  to  David  Davis,  electing 
him  with  the  help  of  the  independents.  Mean- 
while Illinois,  like  the  nation,  during  the  contested 
election  between  Hayes  and  Tilden  had  reached 
a  pitch  of  political  excitement  that  almost  threat- 
ened civil  war.  That  the  democrats  acquiesced  in 
the  decisions  of  the  electoral  commission,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  those  decisions  are  now  questioned 
by  impartial  students,  was  a  triumph  for  orderly 
government. 

In  the  years  that  followed  1876  the  democrats 
forgot  their  new  found  affection  for  the  Green- 
back movement  —  the  "rag  baby"  of  republican 
orators.  With  the  Greenbackers  drifting  off 
toward  the  Knights  of  Labor  and  more  radical 
labor  reform,  the  democrats  were  willing  to  make 
a  place  for  both  Greenback  and  anti-Greenback 
men  in  their  ranks.  Both  parties  were  inclined 
to  sneer  at  the  demands  of  the  labor  enthusiasts 
for  the  eight  hour  day  and  the  abolition  of  child 


Two  Decades  of  Party  Politics        299 

labor.  And  to  satisfy  the  cry  of  the  workingman 
and  farmer  for  cheap  money  a  new  and  more  re- 
spectable Inflationist  scheme  had  arisen;  the  re- 
monetization  of  silver. 

For  sixty  years  before  1853  the  United  States 
had  been  trying  to  keep  silver  and  gold  on  such  a 
ratio  to  each  other  in  the  coinage  that  both  would 
stay  in  circulation.  First  one  and  then  the  other 
felt  the  unfavorable  ratios  and  dropped  out. 
From  1853  the  United  States  had  tacitly  dropped 
the  attempt  at  bimetallism,  the  holding  of  silver 
equal  with  gold  as  the  standard.  In  1873  a  coin- 
age act  had  omitted  the  silver  dollar  from  the  list 
of  coins  to  be  struck — the  famous  "crime  of 
1873."  ^or  a  generation  free  silver  orators  ex- 
patiated qji  the  plot  of  British  capital  to  subject 
the  United  States  to  slavery  to  British  gold,  or 
told  the  man  of  religion  that  Congress  had  wicked- 
ly defied  God  by  reducing  from  the  coinage  a 
metal  mentioned  in  His  holy  word.  The  silver 
mine  owner  added  his  enthusiasm;  and  in  the  west 
at  first  practically  all  men,  republican  and  demo- 
cratic alike,  favored  the  Bland- Allison  silver  meas- 
ure of  1878.  Not  until  the  nineties  did  the  west- 
ern republicans  develop  a  change  of  heart  on  the 
subject  of  free  silver. 

Meanwhile  Logan,  defying  protests  against 
boss  rule  was  supreme  in  the  republican  party. 
In  1879  a  republican  legislature  elected  him  sen- 


3°°  The  Story  of  Illinois 

ator  over  Oglesby  who  came  up  for  reelection. 
Logan  especially  lent  his  influence  to  the  move- 
ment to  nominate  Grant  for  a  third  term  in  1880. 
In  spite  of  republican  protests  at  Logan's  domina- 
tion the  Grant  men  controlled  the  state  convention 
and  instructed  the  delegation  for  him.  In  the 
Chicago  republican  convention,  however,  Garfield 
was  unexpectedly  put  on  as  a  compromise  candi- 
date, running  against  Weaver  for  the  Greenbacks 
and  Hancock  for  the  democrats.  Hancock's  dec- 
laration that  the  tariff  was  a  local  issue  took  the 
heart  out  of  the  democrats  who  might  still  have 
capitalized  the  state's  dislike  of  protection.  Cul- 
lom,  the  republican  nominee  for  reelection  as 
governor,  was  easily  successful  over  Lyman  Trum- 
bull, the  democratic  candidate  —  the  Greenback 
candidate  holding  the  balance  between  them.  In 
1882  Cullom  in  his  turn  left  the  Governor's  chair 
to  accept  a  senatorship,  and  his  thirty  years  service 
in  the  senate  began.  The  Lieutenant  Governor 
John  M.  Hamilton  took  his  place. 

Eighteen  eighty-four  was  a  democratic  year  in 
the  nation.  In  Illinois,  Oglesby  was  nominated 
for  governor  over  Hamilton  to  contest  the  elec- 
tion with  the  elder  Career  Harrison,  the  famous 
mayor  of  Chicago.  Both  sides  had  now  endorsed 
the  demands  of  labor,  the  democrats  declaring 
for  the  eight  hour  day  and  the  right  of  labor  to 
organize.    Logan  was  endorsed  by  the  state  con- 


Two  Decades  of  Party  Politics       301 

vention  for  the  Presidency,  but  ultimately  had  to 
accept  the  vice  presidential  nomination  on  the 
ticket  with  Blaine.  The  republicans,  though  suc- 
cessful in  the  state,  lost  the  national  election.  The 
Illinois  legislature  was  closely  divided  and  one  of 
the  most  thrilling  political  contests  in  the  state's 
history  began. 

The  senate  of  the  general  assembly  that  con- 
vened at  Springfield  in  January  1885  consisted 
of  twenty-six  republicans  and  twenty-five  demo- 
crats including  one  Greenbacker.  The  House  con- 
tained seventy-six  republicans  and  seventy-seven 
democrats  including  an  "independent,"  E.  M. 
Haines  of  Lake  county.  First  came  the  difficulty 
of  organization.  Haines  was  chosen  temporary 
speaker  as  a  compliment.  He  then  blandly  with 
the  help  of  his  friend  Sittig,  a  republican,  at- 
tempted to  retain  the  office  on  the  ground  that 
the  constitution  of  the  state  knew  but  one  speaker, 
the  permanent  one.  After  much  disorder  the 
democrats  gave  way  and  elected  him  speaker. 
Even  more  serious  was  the  contest  over  the  sen- 
atorship;  for  the  sum  of  the  members  of  the 
houses  on  joint  ballot  including  one  doubtful  vote 
on  each  side  was  102  democrats  and  102  republi- 
cans. The  republicans  selected  Logan  as  their 
candidate,  agreeing  to  support  him  to  the  end. 
The  democrats,  divided  between  William  R. 
Morrison  and  Carter  Harrison,  finally  adopted 


302  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Morrison,  and  the  long  contest  began.  Perhaps 
either  side,  certainly  the  democrats,  might  time 
after  time  have  secured  the  needed  additional  vote 
to  elect  a  compromise  candidate;  but  they  held 
out.  The  session  dragged  on  indefinitely;  the 
people  of  the  state  became  indignant  at  the  farce 
of  the  seemingly  interminable  party  struggle. 

Twice  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  session 
members  had  died.  On  both  occasions  the  mem- 
bers had  been  replaced  by  others  of  similar  poli- 
tics; and  on  the  death  of  Representative  Shaw  of 
the  thirtieth  senatorial  district  —  the  counties  of 
Cass,  Mason,  Schuyler  and  Menard — it  seemed 
certain  that  the  same  thing  would  happen,  for  the 
district  was  democratic  by  1800  or  2000  majority. 
To  a  certain  Henry  Craske,  however,  occurred 
the  idea  of  a  "gumshoe"  campaign  to  get  the 
republican  vote  out  without  alarming  the  demo- 
crats till  too  late.  Logan  gave  his  consent  though 
skeptical  of  success.  The  republicans  put  for- 
ward no  candidate,  but  a  secret  campaign  through 
the  district  warned  the  republican  voters  to  turn 
out  to  the  polls  late  on  the  day  of  the  election. 
Two  days  before  election,  men  posing  as  cattle 
buyers,  etc.,  passed  through  the  district  distribut- 
ing to  the  precincts  republican  ballots  for  William 
H.  Weaver  for  assemblyman.  The  democrats 
were  not  alarmed  till  too  late  to  get  out  their  vote 
and  Weaver  won  by  a  few  hundred.    He  was  im- 


(1847—1902) 


Two  Decades  of  Party  Politics        3°3 

mediately  seated  and  Logan  was  elected  to  the 
senate. 

The  state  election  of  1888  resolved  itself  into 
a  contest  between  "Private  Joe"  Fifer,  the  re- 
publican candidate,  an  old  soldier  who,  in  an  age 
of  political  generals,  enjoyed  the  distinction  indi- 
cated by  his  nickname,  and  John  M.  Palmer. 
Palmer  once  more  took  a  decidedly  pro-labor 
point  of  view.  He  had  the  clear  sightedness  to 
lay  a  part  of  the  trouble  of  1886  in  Chicago  to 
the  Pinkertons  and  the  police.  But  Illinois  was 
now  a  normally  republican  state  and  Fifer  as  well 
as  Benjamin  Harrison  on  the  national  ticket  was 
duly  elected;  two  years  later,  however,  the  fifty 
farmer  members  elected  by  the  Farmers'  Mutual 
Benefit  Association  held  the  balance  of  power  in 
the  house,  and  in  a  three-cornered  battle  for  the 
senatorship  between  Palmer  and  republican  and 
farmer  candidates,  Palmer  wa9  elected  March  12, 
1891. 

In  1892  Fifer  was  again  the  logical  candidate 
of  the  republicans;  his  democratic  opponent  was 
the  remarkable  John  P.  Altgeld,  German  by  birth, 
a  rich  man  by  his  own  exertions,  social  and  polit- 
ical reformer,  labor  sympathizer,  and  radical  by 
nature,  whose  motives  were  pronounced  by  his 
best  friends  a  strange  medley  of  high  ideals  and 
personal  prejudices,  a  man  in  whom  intellect  and 
emotion  were  strangely  mixed.     As  Palmer  had 


3°4  The  Story  of  Illinois 

done  in  1888,  Altgeld  strove  to  keep  out  of  Illi- 
nois gubernatorial  elections  the  old  republican 
issues  of  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction,  and  to 
pin  the  canvas  to  the  questions  of  legislative  and 
social  reform  that  directly  concerned  the  state. 
He  adopted  the  public  and  parochial  school  issue 
as  his  main  platform;  both  the  state  and  national 
democratic  candidates  were  successful.  With  Alt- 
geld's  election  an  era  of  social  reform  legislation 
ibegan. 


CHAPTER  XV 

RECENT    POLITICAL    DEVELOPMENT 

IN  DEALING  with  recent  history  such  as  that 
since  1893  in  which  persons  now  living  were 
actively  engaged,  the  historian's  method  must  be 
modified.  He  can  no  longer  study  frankly  the 
interplay  of  personality  with  events  and  no  longer 
show  how  the  weakness  and  foibles  of  the  in- 
dividual weave  into  the  web  of  history.  He  must 
limit  himself  to  bare  statements  of  fact  regarding 
elections  and  political  contests  of  individuals  and 
the  growth  of  institutions. 

With  1893  opened  the  first  democratic  state 
administration  since  the  Civil  War  under  Gover- 
nor Altgeld.  A  tremendous  dissatisfaction  with 
the  republican  party  had  carried  into  power  a 
political  idealist.  But  the  reaction  from  discon- 
tent came;  men  grew  tired  of  the  high  hopes  of 
the  idealist.  These  hopes  hardly  comported  with 
defalcations  that  took  place  under  him,  and  in 
1896  the  democrats  went  out  of  office  to  stay  out 
for  four  terms.  Bryan  then  in  the  first  flush  of 
youthful  enthusiasm  was  preaching  the  cause  of 
the  masses  against  the  classes  on  the  old  issue  of 
cheap  money,  this  time  in  the  form  of  free  silver. 

305 


306  The  Story  of  Illinois 

In  1896  and  again  in  1900  on  this  issue  he  lost 
the  state  to  McKinley.  In  those  years  respective- 
ly John  A.  Tanner  and  Richard  Yates,  son  of  the 
war  governor,  were  elected  governors  over  Alt- 
geld  and  Samuel  Alschuler,  respectively.  The  re- 
publican vote  mounted,  Alschuler,  the  most  suc- 
cessful of  the  democrats  falling  60,000  behind  his 
opponent.  In  1904  the  republican  majority  for 
president  and  governor  rose  to  300,000.  It  was 
the  "Roosevelt"  year  when  Charles  S.  Deneen, 
nominated  for  governor  after  a  hard  convention 
struggle,  ran  against  Lawrence  B.  Stringer.  In 
1908,  however,  with  Deneen  running  against 
Adlai  E.  Stevenson  former  vice  president  with 
Cleveland,  this  majority  was  cut  to  23,000;  but 
Taft  beat  Bryan  in  the  state  by  179,000. 

In  these  years  the  political  composition  of  the 
Congressional  delegation  had  fluctuated.  For  the 
congress  elected  in  1890  under  dissatisfaction  with 
the  McKinley  tariff  it  numbered  six  republicans 
and  fourteen  democrats.  In  1892  the  democrats 
had  to  be  content  with  one-half  the  delegation. 
In  1896  they  could  elect  but  four  out  of  twenty- 
two.  In  1894  they  had  not  a  single  member. 
After  the  Roosevelt  landslide  of  1904  they  had 
but  one. 

The  general  assemblies  showed  smaller  fluctu- 
ations; the  principle  of  minority  representation 
assured  the  minority  party  a  respectable  strength 


Recent  Political  Development        3°7 

in  the  House,  however  weak  they  might  be  in 
the  Senate. 

At  this  time  we  are  too  close  to  it  to  analyze 
the  motives  and  intentions  of  the  progressive 
movement  of  19 12.  Liberals  of  all  shades  from 
Theodore  Roosevelt  to  Miss  Jane  Addams  met  in 
harmony,  ignoring  the  fundamental  difference  of 
their  views  of  the  universe  to  push  a  program  of 
liberal  reform,  political,  legal,  and  social.  The 
term  social  justice  was  vague  and  meant  many 
different  things;  but  the  enthusiasm  of  a  crusade 
for  righteousness  swept  through  the  country  and 
Illinois  as  well.  Point  had  been  given  to  it  in 
Illinois  by  the  unseating  of  William  Lorimer  in 
19 1 2  by  the  United  States  Senate  on  the  ground 
that  corrupt  interests  had  brought  about  his  elec- 
tion through  bribery  of  the  state  legislature  in 
1909. 

It  was  at  Chicago  in  the  republican  national 
convention  that  the  progressive  movement  began. 
The  contest  between  Taft  and  Roosevelt  for  the 
control  of  the  convention  and  the  nomination  had 
led  to  a  series  of  contesting  delegations;  alleging 
votes  were  unjustly  taken  from  Roosevelt  by  the 
national  committee,  the  revolting  Roosevelt  forces 
refused  to  vote  on  the  nomination,  assailing  the 
presiding  officer  with  jeers  when  their  delegations 
were  called.  After  the  convention  had  renominated 
Taft  and  adjourned,  the  Roosevelt  forces  met  at 


3°8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Orchestra  Hall  to  launch  the  movement  that  be- 
came the  progressive  party  and  put  Roosevelt  in 
the  field  as  a  third  candidate  against  Taft  and 
Wilson.  For  a  time  there  was  doubt  as  to 
whether  a  candidate  for  governor  should  be  run 
against  Deneen,  who  had  supported  Roosevelt  up 
to  the  point  of  revolting  from  the  party;  the  de- 
cision was  made,  however,  to  run  Frank  Funk. 
With  the  state  republican  party  divided  on  both 
governor  and  president,  the  election  of  Woodrow 
Wilson,  liberal  enough  to  hold  the  democrats  in 
line,  and  of  Judge  Edward  F.  Dunne  as  governor 
was  assured.  In  the  general  assembly  elected 
in  19 1 2  the  democrats  had  ninety-six  votes  in 
joint  ballot,  the  republicans  seventy-seven  and  the 
progressives  twenty-eight.  A  coalition  of  demo- 
crats and  republicans  elected  L.  Y.  Sherman,  re- 
publican, and  James  Hamilton  Lewis,  democrat, 
United  States  senators. 

In  Illinois  the  progressive  movement  sank  away 
little  more  slowly  than  it  arose.  The  liberalism 
of  Wilson's  administration  carried  away  some  of 
it,  the  rest  under  the  issues  of  the  war  was  reab- 
sorbed in  the  republican  party  by  the  election  of 
1916.  In  that  year  the  normal  republican  ma- 
jority in  Illinois  reasserted  itself  and  Frank  O. 
Lowden  was  elected  governor  over  Dunne,  the 
state  electoral  vote  going  to  Hughes  as  against 
Wilson.     In  1920  the  republicans  swept  the  state 


Recent  Political  Development        3°9 

for  both  governor  and  president,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  nomination  of  their  candidate,  Len 
Small,  had  come  about  after  a  bitter  contest  with 
the  faction  headed  by  Lowden;  the  two  groups 
warred  on  each  other  savagely  during  the  whole 
course  of  Small's  administration. 

The  Spanish  American  War  fell  in  the  period 
we  are  considering.  Save  for  the  wave  of  patri- 
otic enthusiasm  it  called  out  it  did  not  affect  Illi- 
nois deeply.  Nine  regiments  of  infantry,  one  of 
cavalry,  and  a  battery  of  artillery  were  the  state's 
quota.  Of  these  the  First  Infantry  served  in  the 
Santiago  campaign,  the  Third  and  the  battery  in 
Porto  Rico,  the  Sixth  in  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  and 
the  Eighth  and  Ninth  in  Cuba. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  government  the  his- 
tory of  the  period  is  better  studied  with  regard 
to  certain  movements  for  change  in  its  organiza- 
tion. Chief  among  these  is  the  demand  for  con- 
stitutional amendment  or  revision.  The  Constitu- 
tion of  1870  ably  framed  for  the  Illinois  of  its 
day,  an  agricultural  community  with  a  large  city 
in  it,  is  quite  inadequate  for  a  commonwealth  as 
much  interested  in  manufacture  and  commerce  as 
agriculture  and  containing  a  world  metropolis. 
The  framers  of  the  constitution  satisfied  to  have 
established  the  work  of  their  hands  upon  them 
had  made  amendment  difficult;  an  amendment 
must  be  submitted  by  two-thirds  of  each  house  of 


3l°  The  Story  of  Illinois 

the  general  assembly,  and  ratified  by  a  majority 
of  those  voting  at  the  next  election;  amendments 
could  be  submitted  to  but  one  article  at  a  time; 
and  no  two  for  the  same  article  within  four  years. 
Before  the  state  ballot  act  of  1891  amendment 
was  easier;  because  in  the  ballots  furnished  by 
political  parties  before  that  year,  amendments 
were  usually  submitted  as  affirmative  proposi- 
tions, and  all  votes  not  cast  specifically  against 
them  were  counted  for  them ;  but  after  that  year 
unless  a  voter  on  the  official  ballot  expressed  his 
opinion  specifically  for  the  proposition  his  vote 
was  counted  against  it.  Lack  of  interest  on  the 
part  of  voters  thenceforth  would  insure  the  de- 
feat of  an  amendment. 

After  1 89 1,  too,  it  became  increasingly  difficult 
to  secure  a  two-thirds  majority  of  the  legislature 
for  any  proposed  amendment.  Sectional  inter- 
ests, Chicago  versus  down  state,  financial  inter- 
ests, privileged  interests  generally  were  likely  to 
be  engaged  pro  or  con  on  any  given  amendment; 
and  it  was  not  difficult  in  a  legislature  with  houses 
chosen  on  fundamentally  different  principles  to 
secure  a  dissenting  one-third  in  one  or  the  other 
house.  Worse  than  this,  rival  amendments  con- 
tended at  session  after  session  to  be  the  one  the 
assembly  was  permitted  to  submit ;  and  the  groups 
supporting  them  worked  each  for  its  own  and 
against   the   others.      The    so-called   u  gateway " 


Recent  Political  Development        311 

amendment  to  amend  the  amending  clause  offered 
session  after  session  was  always  sidetracked  in 
the  assembly  or  defeated  at  the  polls.  Three 
times  in  thirty  years  attempts  were  made  to  call 
a  constitutional  convention  to  frame  a  new  con- 
stitution; in  1893,  and  in  1901,  resolutions  were 
voted  down  in  the  Assembly.  In  19 17,  however, 
a  convention  resolution  passed  the  assembly  and 
eighteen  months  later  was  adopted  by  the  voters. 
The  convention  met  in  1920,  carried  on  its  work 
intermittently  for  two  years  and  finally  submitted 
a  complete  constitution  to  the  people.  Much 
could  be  said  against  it  on  various  points  and 
strong  groups  and  classes  of  the  electorate  were 
mustered  against  it;  it  was  overwhelmingly 
defeated. 

The  defects  in  the  constitution  of  1870  as  it 
stands  are  numerous.  Many  technical  objections 
can  be  alleged  to  the  judicial  clauses.  Its  revenue 
article  providing  for  a  uniform  tax  on  all  prop- 
erty, fair  enough  in  the  agricultural  common- 
wealth of  1870,  now  allows  vast  amounts  of  in- 
tangible personal  property  to  escape.  Its  restric- 
tions on  municipalities  and  their  debts  prevents  a 
thoroughgoing  development  of  Chicago.  The 
system  of  minority  representation  permits  each 
voter  to  cast  three  votes  for  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly for  one,  two,  or  three  candidates.     Accord- 


312  The  Story  of  Illinois 

ingly,  under  any  circumstances  one-third  the  vot- 
ers may  insure  the  election  of  one  assemblyman. 
In  practice  a  much  smaller  fraction  may  often  do 
it.  The  system  is  one  of  vicious  minority  over- 
representation.  The  constitution  leaves  no  open- 
ing for  improvements  on  republican  government 
such  as  the  initiative  and  referendum.  It  relies 
for  democracy  on  letting  the  people  elect  to  one 
office  after  another  purely  administrative  in  func- 
tion, and  sets  voters  every  four  years  to  pass  on 
the  qualifications  of  a  secretary  of  state  with 
whose  office  they  have  come  in  contact  merely  to 
apply  for  automobile  licenses  and  an  auditor  of 
public  accounts  with  whose  office  they  have  prob- 
ably not  come  in  contact  at  all. 

Meanwhile  for  forty-seven  years  after  the  con- 
stitution of  1870  was  adopted  the  administrative 
system  of  the  state  grew  more  and  more  cumber- 
some. The  constitution  provided  a  simple  list  of 
administrative  officers,  governor,  lieutenant  gov- 
ernor, secretary  of  state,  auditor  of  public  ac- 
counts, treasurer,  superintendent  of  public  instruc- 
tion, attorney  general.  But  as  one  private  activ- 
ity after  another  required  regulation,  one  profes- 
sion or  occupation  after  another  had  to  be 
licensed,  one  special  industry  or  public  utility  after 
another  supervised,  special  officers,  boards,  etc., 
paid  and  unpaid,  were  heaped  up  till  the  number 
reached  over  a  hundred.     Every  regulating  stat- 


Recent  Political  Development        3J3 

ute  created  its  board  to  administer  it. 

The  situation  came  to  a  head  in  the  report  of 
the  Efficiency  and  Economy  Commission  of 
1913-15.  In  large  measure  based  on  this  report 
was  the  Consolidation  Act  of  19 17.  This  act 
leaving  untouched  the  older  constitutional  offices 
—  secretary  of  state,  auditor,  superintendent  of 
public  instruction,  attorney  general  —  till  a  con- 
stitutional convention  could  deal  with  them,  set 
beside  them  new  departments,  the  heads  to  hold 
office  for  four  years  by  appointment  of  governor 
and  senate.  Of  these  departments  that  of  finance 
was  entrusted  with  a  state  budget;  agriculture, 
labor,  mines  and  minerals,  trade  and  commerce, 
public  health,  had  the  functions  implied  by  their 
names.  Registration  and  education  took,  over  the 
license  examinations  for  physicians,  barbers,  etc., 
and  a  general  supervision  of  the  normal  schools, 
etc.  Public  works  had  control  not  merely  of 
building,  but  state  printing,  etc.  Public  welfare 
took  over  the  control  of  all  the  public  charitable 
and  penal  institutions  of  the  state.  Under  these 
departments  were  grouped  the  few  surviving 
separate  boards  in  more  or  less  dependent  rela- 
tions. The  act  was  a  long  step  toward  a  modern 
scientific  state  government,  but  unfortunately  the 
constitutional  convention  failed  to  adjust  it  to  the 
older  offices,  leaving  them  side  by  side  with  it  as 
before. 


3J4  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Before  the  passage  of  the  act,  even,  the  state 
had  made  long  advances  in  dealing  with  the  prob- 
lem of  administration.  Since  1869  there  had 
been  a  state  board  of  charities  with  purely  super- 
visory control  over  the  charitable  institutions  of 
the  state.  In  1909  a  state  board  of  administra- 
tion replaced  all  the  local  boards  of  the  various 
asylums,  etc.  A  state  charities  commission  with 
powers  of  visitation  was  established  beside  it.  In 
19 1 7  the  penal  institutions  of  the  state  were 
added  to  the  charitable  and  the  whole  placed  un-< 
der  the  control  of  the  department  of  public  wel- 
fare. 

Illinois  has  finally  attained  to  a  good  state  civil 
service  organization.  The  history  of  civil  service  re- 
form in  Illinois  begins  with  the  act  of  1895  allow- 
ing the  adoption  of  the  system  in  cities.  It  was  so 
adopted  by  Chicago,  Evanston,  Springfield,  and 
Waukegan.  Naturally  the  system  was  most  im- 
portant with  respect  to  Chicago.  There  it  has 
been  in  a  precarious  situation,  continually  invali- 
dated by  the  use  of  sixty  day  permits  to  keep  in 
office  persons  without  due  qualifications.  In  1901 
the  Cook  County  civil  service  commission  was 
convicted  of  malfeasance  in  office.  In  191 1  the 
Cook  County  civil  service  system  was  extended 
to  all  county  employees ;  but  the  act  was  declared 
unconstitutional  as  unduly  passed.  State  civil  serv- 
ice has  come  more  slowly,  but  surely.     In  1905 


Recent  Political  Development        315 

it  was  applied  to  all  charitable  institutions.     In 

1 9 10  the  question  of  a  statewide  civil  service  was 
carried  in  a  popular  public  policy  vote;   and  in 

191 1  an  act  was  passed.  It  secured  their  posi- 
tions to  all  incumbents,  but  provided  for  com- 
petitive examinations  which  in  the  case  of  certain 
scientific  posts  are  "unassembled,"  consisting  of 
questions  as  to  training  and  experience.  For  the 
first  six  years  of  the  act  employees  could  be  re- 
moved only  by  charges  and  trial.  After  19 17  the 
appointing  authority  could  remove,  subject  to  ap- 
peal that  the  removal  was  due  to  religious,  racial, 
or  political  reasons. 

The  suffrage  of  the  state  has  been  revolution- 
ized in  the  last  thirty  years.  Before  the  Austral- 
ian Ballot  Act  of  1 89 1,  parties  supplied  their  own 
ballots  and  made  nominations  independent  of  any 
legal  control.  With  1891  the  state  began  to 
recognize  in  law  the  party  system  that  had  existed 
since  1834  in  practice.  An  official  ballot  was  pro- 
vided on  which  candidates  were  to  be  listed  under 
their  party  labels;  and  a  system  of  nominating 
conventions  was  prescribed. 

The  defects  of  the  nominating  convention  and 
the  possibility  of  packing  it  caused  an  agitation 
for  direct  primaries  to  choose  party  tickets.  Pri- 
mary acts  passed  in  1905,  1906,  1908,  and  1919 
were  declared  unconstitutional  by  the  supreme 
court.    One  of  19 10  stood  the  test;  but  it  cannot 


3J6  The  Story  of  Illinois 

be  applied  to  a  judicial  nomination  which,  with 
the  drawing  up  of  party  platforms  is  still  per- 
formed by  nominating  conventions.  In  1 90 1  pro- 
vision was  made  for  the  submission  to  the  voters, 
on  petition  of  ten  per  cent  of  the  voters  of  the 
state  or  twenty-five  per  cent  of  those  of  any  dis- 
trict, questions  of  public  policy  not  more  than 
three  in  number  on  a  ballot;  but  there  is  no  com- 
pulsion on  the  legislature  to  pass  measures  cor- 
responding in  case  of  an  affirmative  vote. 

The  period  saw  the  establishment  of  woman 
suffrage.  In  1891  women  were  allowed  to  vote 
in  school  elections.  In  1909  they  were  permitted 
to  be  candidates  for  all  school  offices  from  which 
they  were  not  barred  by  constitutional  provision. 
In  1 9 13  they  were  allowed  to  vote  for  all  political 
offices  not  constitutional  in  their  origin,  the  most 
important  being  presidential  elector.  Since  the 
ratification  of  the  19th  amendment  to  the  federal 
constitution  they  have  been  permitted  to  vote  for 
all  offices. 

One  effect  of  their  vote  was  to  extend  the  pro- 
hibition area  over  the  state.  In  1907  a  law  per- 
mitting votes  on  local  option  in  villages,  towns, 
etc.,  was  passed;  dry  areas  spread  steadily,  in- 
creasing greatly  in  the  election  of  19 13  with  the 
women  voting  for  the  first  time.  Since  then  the 
Volstead  act  and  a  state  enforcement  act  almost 
as  rigid  have  made  the  sale  or  manufacture  for 


Recent  Political  Development        317 

consumption  of  alcoholic  liquors  generally  unlaw- 
ful. Wet  and  dry  has  been  one  of  the  most  savage 
dividing  issues  in  Illinois  politics.  For  years  the 
state  anti-saloon  league  campaigned  for  the  defeat 
of  wet  and  the  election  of  dry  candidates;  and  in 
the  state  general  assembly  the  designation  of  wet 
and  dry  even  now  cuts  across  parties  and  factions 
alike. 

In  some  respects  the  most  remarkable  part  of 
Illinois  legislative  record  during  the  period  is  in 
labor  legislation.  The  beginnings  of  it  go 
farther  back.  The  first  regulation  of  mines  and 
mining,  early  recognized  as  a  dangerous  occupa- 
tion, was  by  act  of  1872.  In  1883  a  board  of  ex- 
aminers of  mining  and  state  mining  inspectors 
was  established.  In  1899,  19 10,  and  19 13  the 
law  was  further  expanded  and  codified.  In  1891 
the  state's  first  child  labor  law  was  passed,  setting 
the  age  limit  at  thirteen;  it  remained  a  dead  letter, 
but  by  act  of  1893  a  department  of  factories  and 
workshops  was  created  to  enforce  it;  the  age  limit 
was  raised  to  fourteen,  with  supervision  of  chil- 
dren fourteen  to  sixteen.  In  1903  the  act  was 
made  still  more  stringent,  limiting  employment 
during  school  sessions  and  in  certain  places  and 
occupations.  In  1904  child  labor  in  Illinois  mines 
came  to  an  end. 

An  eight  hour  clause  for  women  in  the  act  of 
1893  was  declared  unconstitutional,  but  ten  hour 


3X8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

laws  for  women  were  passed  in  1909  and  191 1. 
A  law  providing  all  possible  safeguards  against 
occupational  diseases  passed  in  191 1,  and  work- 
men's compensation  laws  in  191 1,  19 13  and  19 17. 
Even  earlier,  in  1899  free  state  employment 
agencies  had  been  created.  Generally  Illinois 
stands  high  among  the  states  in  its  labor  legisla- 
tion. 

The  thirty  years  since  1893  have  seen  great 
masses  of  legislation  passed  compared  with  the 
meager  output  or  1872-93.  This  has  mostly  been 
done  in  the  comparatively  narrow  biennial  legis- 
lative sessions  between  the  first  week  in  January 
and  the  last  week  in  June.  Necessarily  the  influ- 
ence of  individual  members  on  legislation  has  de- 
clined, as  that  of  committees  and  of  the  steering 
organizations  of  the  house  and  senate  has  in- 
creased. Occasionally  in  the  rush  at  the  last 
minute,  laws  have  been  passed  inconsistent  and  ill 
advised;  and  excessive  appropriations  have  been 
made.  But  generally  considered  the  results  have 
not  been  as  bad  as  might  have  been  expected. 

Two  outside  influences  have  had  increasing 
weight  in  legislation.  The  supreme  court,  as  will 
appear  by  the  foregoing  narrative,  has  exercised 
freely  its  power  of  declaring  laws  unconstitutional. 
Between  1870  and  19 13  it  decided  against  the 
constitutionality  of  laws  in  257  out  of  789  cases. 
The  governor,  too,  since  1884  possessed  of  the 


Recent  Political  Development        319 

power  to  veto  separate  items  of  appropriation, 
has  exercised  an  increasing  influence.  By  reason 
of  the  fact  that  so  much  legislation  is  passed  so 
late  in  the  session  as  to  make  it  impossible  to  pass 
it  over  his  veto,  his  power  of  veto  has  become 
almost  absolute.  That,  coupled  with  his  powers 
of  appointment  gives  him  a  strong  influence  over 
the  assembly  whenever  he  cares  to  use  it.  At  the 
close  of  the  first  hundred  years  of  its  statehood 
the  Illinois  General  Assembly  was  in  a  state  of 
relative  subordination  to  governor  and  supreme 
court  almost  the  reverse  of  its  commanding  posi- 
tion in  18 18. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  WORLD  WAR 

THERE  can  be  no  question  but  that  the  de- 
ciding factor  of  the  World  War  of  19 14-18 
was  the  weight  in  soldiers,  munitions,  money,  food- 
stuffs, and  above  all  in  intelligence  and  moral  en- 
thusiasm contributed  by  the  United  States  in 
1917-18.  In  this  contribution  the  state  of  Illinois 
was  of  supreme  importance,  far  greater  than  her 
relative  mass  in  the  nation  would  indicate.  Situ- 
ated as  she  was  at  the  heart  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  almost  the  first  in  the  Union  in  agricul- 
ture, third  in  manufacturing,  with  one  of  the  larg- 
est foreign  and  especially  German  populations, 
everything  depended  on  her  attitude.  Were  she 
to  "  fight  backwardly"  as  Kentucky  and  Mary- 
land had  done  in  1861-65,  were  her  allegiance 
divided,  the  resources  of  the  nation  would  be  dis- 
astrously crippled  at  the  start.  Possibly  a  part 
of  those  resources  would  have  to  be  diverted  to 
hold  her  neuter  in  the  struggle.  When  she  out- 
did herself  in  contribution  victory  was  assured. 
The  way  of  her  contribution  and  the  measure  of 
it  are  here  to  be  told. 

The  moral  issues  involved  in  the  World  War 
320 


The  World  War  2>2i 

cannot  be  adequately  appraised  till  future  histori- 
ans have  duly  weighed  and  valued  the  causes  that 
in  August,  19 14,  sent  three  hundred  and  fifty  mil- 
lion Europeans  at  each  other's  throats  and  eventu- 
ally drew  into  the  whirlpool  wellnigh  all  the 
peoples  of  the  earth  save  Spanish  South  America 
and  a  few  of  the  lesser  states  of  Europe.  But 
the  people  of  Illinois  and  the  Union  from  the  first 
passed  moral  judgments  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
conflict;  they  were  far  from  unanimous  in  them. 
The  mass  of  the  people  of  Illinois  condemned 
Germany  from  the  beginning  for  the  violation  of 
Belgium,  for  the  lurid  tales  of  atrocities  inflicted 
deliberately  6n  civilian  populations,  and  for  the 
schemes  of  world  conquest  ascribed  to  the  Ger- 
man militarists. 

The  Americans  of  German  extraction  on  the 
other  hand  insisted  bitterly  that  the  Fatherland 
was  striving  desperately  to  free  itself  from  the 
insidious  encircling  web  of  diplomacy  woven  by 
Isvolsky,  Poincare,  and  Sir  Edward  Grey;  they 
decried  the  tales  of  atrocity,  and  maintained  the 
invasion  of  Belgium  to  have  been  a  commonplace 
of  European  military  theory  for  twenty  years. 
The  difference  passed  beyond  argument  to  emo- 
tion. On  the  one  hand,  were  those  of  German 
blood,  on  the  other  those  whose  racial  antecedents 
led  to  England,  Italy,  Russia  and  the  subject  peo- 
ples of  the  dual  monarchy. 


322  The  Story  of  Illinois 


The  weapons  of  war  employed  by  Germany 
only  deepened  the  hostility  of  her  American  op- 
ponents. The  introduction  of  poison  gas  and 
of  submarine  attacks  on  merchant  vessels  seemed 
brutal,  lawless,  and  violent  compared  with  Great 
Britain's  aggressions  on  neutral  commerce,  and 
her  blockade  of  neutral  continental  ports.  The 
sinking  of  the  Lusitania  in  19 15  and  the  loss  of 
American  citizens  on  board  swept  the  country  to 
the  verge  of  war.  The  President  attempted  by 
diplomatic  means  to  obtain  reparation  and  secu- 
rity for  the  future.  A  pledge  was  finally  obtained 
in  19 16.  But  the  conviction  that  all  government 
in  Germany  was  subordinated  to  a  ruthless,  head- 
strong, military  group  gained  headway  when  the 
limitations  on  submarine  warfare  were  denounced 
by  Germany  in  January,  19 17.  In  spite  of  the 
fact  that  in  19 16  Woodrow  Wilson  had  been  re- 
elected on  the  slogan  "He  kept  us  out  of  war," 
the  President  could  no  longer  hold  back  the  tide 
that  was  sweeping  us  in. 

The  greater  part  of  the  American  people  would 
doubtless  have  been  content  to  air  their  moral 
condemnation  of  Germany  without  actual  resort 
to  war.  Most  intelligent  people  regarded  the 
declaration  of  war  of  April  6,  191 7,  as  merely  a 
gesture  of  support  for  the  winning  side,  till  the 
allied  missions  revealed  the  fact  that  the  sub- 
marine   blockade    was    fearfully    effective,    that 


The  World  War 323 

Russia,  beaten  again  and  again  in  the  field,  had 
at  last  disintegrated  in  a  radical  revolution,  and 
that  the  whole  strength  of  the  United  States  was 
required  to  avert  a  crushing  defeat. 

The  necessities  now  seemed  clear.  There 
could  be  no  question  that  the  triumph  of  Germany 
would  leave  a  militarist  clique  in  charge  of  the 
destinies  of  Europe.  In  Germany  there  seemed 
to  be  no  hands  able  to  hold  them  back  if  they 
won.  Wilson  therefore  sounded  in  his  war  mes- 
sage and  in  other  state  papers  the  call  to  a  cru- 
sade for  democracy  against  militarism,  the  war 
to  end  war.  Assured  that  Armageddon  was  at 
hand  the  American  people  rallied  at  his  call  for 
the  conflict. 

There  was  a  minority  of  opposition  stronger  in 
Illinois  than  elsewhere  to  this  program.  Five  of 
the  fifty  congressmen  who  voted  against  war  were 
from  Illinois.  The  vast  mass  of  Germans  by 
birth  and  descent  acquiesced  loyally  in  the  war; 
but  a  small  minority  took  up  the  trade  of  the 
spy  and  sower  of  sedition.  Many  genuine  paci- 
fists like  Jane  Addams,  and  Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones, 
himself  a  veteran  of  the  Civil  War,  believed  the 
war  unnecessary.  The  socialists  opposed  it,  as 
did  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,  the 
radical  labor  group  whose  national  headquarters 
were  in  Chicago.  The  then  mayor  of  Chicago 
was  reluctant,  doubtful  alike  of  the  draft  and  of 


324  The  Story  of  Illinois 

the  despatch  of  American  troops  to  Europe.  And 
the  meeting  of  the  People's  Council  in  Chicago  in 
September,  191 7,  to  insist  on  a  statement  of  terms 
of  peace,  dissolved  only  under  a  threat  of  military 
action  by  the  governor. 

These  elements  of  dissent  were  silenced  sooner 
or  later.  The  American  Protective  League,  a 
volunteer  secret  service  organization,  originated 
in  Chicago  and  at  one  time  had  thirteen  thousand 
operatives  in  the  city  who  ran  down  one  hundred 
thousand  cases  of  suspects  for  disloyalty,  and 
draft  evasion.  German  aliens  were  registered  Feb- 
ruary 4  and  June  17,  191 8,  and  were  barred  from 
certain  zones  save  with  special  permit.  A  wide- 
spread refusal  to  register  for  the  draft  at  Rock- 
ford  was  dealt  with  by  prosecutions.  The  De- 
partment of  Justice  from  July  to  September,  1917, 
checked  the  activities  of  the  socialists,  suppressing 
their  newspaper;  the  headquarters  of  the  I.  W. 
W.  were  raided  in  September,  1917;  and  in  191 8 
numerous  convictions  of  radical  leaders  were  ob- 
tained on  indictments  for  disloyalty.  In  some  of 
these  proceedings  there  is  no  question  that  judicial 
agencies  overstepped  the  bounds  of  free  speech 
and  freedom  of  the  press;  but  in  modern  war  all 
are  combatants;  and  among  civilians  and  soldiers 
alike  uniformity  of  thought  on  the  war  becomes 
a  military  necessity.  Practical  unanimity  of  ex- 
pression in  the  form  of  support  of  the  war  was 


The  World  War  3*5 

one  way  or  another  attained. 

A  very  important  part  in  the  organization  of 
Illinois  for  war  was  played  by  Governor  Frank 
O.  Lowden.  When  early  in  February  diplomatic 
relations  with  Germany  were  broken,  he  appeared 
before  the  General  Assembly  to  urge  united  sup- 
port of  the  President.  In  large  measure  he  was 
responsible  for  the  creation  of  the  State  Council 
of  Defense  by  act  approved  May  2,  191 7.  The 
Council  so  created  consisted  of  fifteen  members, 
representing  capital,  labor  and  all  the  large  in- 
terests of  the  state  and  itself  organized  all  the 
state's  resources  for  victory.  Under  it  functioned 
the  whole  improvised  civilian  war  organization  of 
the  state.  It  had  to  complain  that  federal 
agencies  instead  of  using  the  organization  sought 
to  supersede  it;  but  that  was  remedied  by  execu- 
tive order  in  August,  19 18. 

It  would  require  a  volume  to  cover  adequately 
the  manifold  activities  in  which  the  State  Council 
of  Defense  engaged  or  the  organizations  created 
by  it  or  affiliated  to  it  to  carry  on  its  work.  It 
cooperated  with  the  Red  Cross,  the  American 
Protective  League,  the  Federal  Food  and  Fuel 
Administration,  the  National  Security  League,  a 
u  preparedness  "  organization  antedating  the  war, 
and  the  Four  Minute  Men,  the  last  being  an  or- 
ganization of  four  minute  speakers  at  theaters, 
churches,  and  lodges,  who  week  by  week  explained 


32&  The  Story  of  Illinois 

the  government  policy  and  invoked  support  of 
enlistment,  liberty  loans,  Red  Cross,  and  other 
war  activities.  The  State  Council  of  Defense 
created  county  auxiliary  committees  to  function 
as  its  executives  throughout  the  counties. 
Affiliated  with  it  was  a  woman's  committee  whose 
activities  may  be  measured  by  its  sub-committees 
of  allied  relief,  Americanization,  child  welfare, 
training  women  for  special  work,  food  conserva- 
tion, publicity,  speakers,  war  information,  women 
and  children  in,  industry.  September  2-15,  1918, 
the  State  Council  of  Defense  held  a  great  war 
government  exposition  at  Chicago,  the  proceeds 
of  which  went  into  the  pockets  of  the  federal  de- 
partment of  publicity. 

Among  the  first  problems  that  confronted  it 
were  those  of  food  and  fuel.  War  industries  were 
sure  to  demand  vast  amounts  of  coal;  the  rail- 
roads crippled  in  equipment  and  burdened  with 
extraordinary  demands  for  transportation,  fore- 
saw difficulty  in  the  winter.  Coal  prices  went  up. 
The  operators,  anxious  to  keep  them  up,  repudi- 
ated an  agreement  to  arbitrate  them,  hoping  for 
higher  prices  from  the  federal  fuel  administra- 
tion, and  the  governor  considered  taking  over  the 
mines  in  the  state  as  a  war  measure.  A  confer- 
ence of  councils  of  defence  of  the  13  northwestern 
states  interested  in  the  western  coal  fields  was  held 
to  concert  action,  abandoning  it  only  on  learning 


The  World  War  327 

that  a  federal  fuel  administration  was  installed. 
Thenceforth  in  Illinois  as  elsewhere  coal  of  va- 
rious grades  was  rationed  at  fixed  prices  accord- 
ing to  the  relative  importance  of  the  industries 
that  used  it.  Even  thus  there  w.ere  fuel  shortage 
and  suffering,  lightless  nights  and  heatless  days 
during  the  winter  of  191 8. 

Food  was  an  even  more  serious  problem.  Food 
production  in  the  allied  and  neutral  countries  of 
Europe  had  been  falling  short.  Crops  of  191 7 
were  below  average,  and  the  United  States  was 
confronted  with  the  problem  of  feeding  Europe 
at  the  same  time  that  it  drew  great  armies  from 
the  harvest  fields.  The  problem  presented  itself 
from  two  different  angles,  conservation  and  econ- 
omy in  the  use  of  foods,  especially  wheat?,  sugar, 
beef  and  pork,  and  the  production  of  more. 

To  economize  the  use  of  food  a  direct  cam- 
paign was  launched  at  the  housewife,  teaching  her 
the  necessity  of  avoiding  waste  and  using  substi- 
tutes for  the  crucial  foods.  That  such  an  appeal 
would  have  the  success  that  it  did  would  have 
seemed  almost  unbelievable  before  19 17.  In  no 
European  country  would  it  have  succeeded. 
Eight  hundred  fifty  thousand  pledge  cards  were 
signed  in  Illinois  guaranteeing  cooperation  with 
the  Federal  Food  Administration.  Wheatless 
days  and  meatless  days  were  thus  enforced  in 
restaurant  and  home  alike.     The  Federal  Food 


328  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Administration  in  Illinois  were  further  engaged 
in  rationing  to  dealers  wheat  flours  and  sugar, 
and  proceeding  against  violators  of  the  regula- 
tions in  this  class. 

More  important  than  this  was  the  positive  cam- 
paign for  the  increase  of  food  production.  Even 
with  the  lure  of  high  prices,  the  mighty  shift  by 
which  Illinois  in  a  year  changed  her  main  crop 
from  corn  to  wheat  is  an  amazing  example  of  the 
triumph  of  organization  and  propaganda.  The 
wheat  crop  of  Illinois  increased  100%  from  19 17 
to  191 8,  while  its  corn  crop  fell  off  from  418,- 
000,000  to  344,350,000  bushels.  The  steering 
of  a  course  between  producer  and  consumer  in 
regulating  prices  was  not  always  easy,  and  the 
producers  complained  of  a  disposition  to  recede 
from  prices  fairly  fixed;  but  even  at  that  the  re- 
sults in  increase  of  food  production  would  be- 
fore the  war  have  seemed  impossible. 

This  was  done,  too,  in  the  face  of  the  with- 
drawal of  labor  for  the  armies.  The  draft  regu- 
lations, it  is  true,  granted  deferred  classification 
to  those  engaged  in  agriculture;  but  they  were 
not  always  enforced,  and  at  the  best  subtracted 
much  labor.  Some  of  this  was  accounted  for  by 
putting  city  boys  to  work  on  the  farms,  as  a 
patriotic  duty;  a  woman's  land  movement  was 
little  more  than  a  gesture,  and  the  greatest  part 
of  the  result  was  ascribable  to  the  more  efficient 


The  World  War  329 

manipulation  of  experienced  labor  already  avail- 
able. 

The  State  Council  of  Defense  was  responsible 
in  March,  191 8,  for  initiating  a  movement  to 
direct  to  western  factories  a  part  of  the  vast  flood 
of  government  war  contracts.  Already  before 
19 1 7  allied  nations  had  placed  contracts  in  Illi- 
nois for  wheeled  transportation,  shell  cases,  shell 
forgings,  cartridges,  etc.  Now  a  flood  of  govern- 
ment orders  of  all  imaginable  sorts  taxed  fac- 
tories to  their  capacities.  In  some  cases  the  gov- 
ernment itself  provided  firms  with  additional 
factory  and  housing  space  to  deal  with  its  orders. 
Statistics  are  fragmentary,  but  of  orders  exceeding 
$100,000  in  amount  $890,000,000  was  placed  in 
Illinois  by  the  war  department  exclusive  of  $26,- 
000,000  spent  in  camp  construction.  The  navy 
alone  expended  $20,000,000  on  additional  con- 
struction in  the  state. 

An  important  phase  of  the  state's  war  activity 
was  the  floating  in  it  of  the  five  Liberty  Loans. 
The  organizations  for  these  were  developed  on 
the  basis  of  the  two  Federal  Reserve  districts, 
the  seventh,  or  Chicago,  and  the  eighth,  or  St. 
Louis,  within  which  the  state  lies.  Within  each 
of  these  the  ramifications  reached  down  to  the 
county  organizations,  which  attempted  to  equal 
or  exceed  set  quotas  based  on  population,  wealth, 
banking  assets,  and  other  criteria.     Starting  with 


33°  The  Story  of  Illinois 

a  rudimentary  organization  for  the  first  loan,  the 
organization  became  more  and  more  elaborate 
for  successive  loans  as  the  quotas  increased.  It 
became  advisable  to  get  as  many  purchasers  as 
possible  in  order  to  encourage  thrift  and  to  pre- 
vent demands  for  luxuries  from  diverting  indus- 
try from  the  filling  of  government  war  contracts. 

To  this  end  campaigns  were  launched  with 
posters,  competitions,  speaking,  every  imaginable 
advertising  device  to  force  the  duty  of  purchas- 
ing home  on  the  individual.  In  many  places  indi- 
vidual quotas  were  set  and  the  individual  expected 
to  subscribe  accordingly.  The  banks  made  ar- 
rangements to  carry  purchasers  on  partial  pay- 
ments. The  result  is  told  by  the  figures.  In  the 
northern  part  of  the  state,  included  in  the  seventh 
district,  the  sales  run  from  $195,685,200  in  the 
first  loan  subscribed  by  280,000  persons,  to  $250,- 
000,000  on  the  second  and  661,104  subscribers, 
$247,662,250  on  the  third  with  1,417,131  sub- 
scribers, $424,112,000  on  the  fourth  from  1,866,- 
064  subscribers,  and  $332,323,200  on  the  fifth 
from  1,130,854  subscribers.  Not  all  these  sums 
were  actually  allotted. 

The  eighth  district  with  the  southern  counties 
of  the  state  was  more  slowly  stirred,  due  perhaps 
to  a  less  efficient  organization.  It  fell  short  in 
its  quota  on  the  first,  but  subscribed  to  the  remain- 
ing four  a  total  of  some  $130,000,000.     The 


The  World  War  33  [ 

number  of  subscribers  increased  from  54,125  in 
the  second  to  190,430  in  the  third,  258,282  on 
the  fourth,  and  73,768  on  the  fifth. 

As  a  further  incentive  to  economy,  War  Sav- 
ings Stamps  were  put  on  sale  in  December,  19 17; 
by  appeals  at  restaurants,  stores,  etc.,  to  buy 
stamps,  winged  by  all  sorts  of  poster  advertising, 
clubs,  and  opportunities  to  sign  pledges  of  sup- 
port to  Pershing,  $73,000,000  were  sold  in  the 
state. 

To  the  colorful  civilian  Illinois  of  the  war  days, 
noisy  with  bands,  eloquent  with  four-minute  and 
noon-day  speakers  urging  this  and  that  cause  or 
conservation,  glowing  with  posters  adjuring  to 
every  patriotic  duty  from  enlistment  to  buying 
War  Savings  Stamps,  the  organization  charged 
with  the  welfare  of  our  own  fighting  forces  and 
those  of  the  allies  added  their  appeal.  The 
Red  Cross  in  membership  campaigns  of  Decem- 
ber, 19 1 7,  and  191 8,  gained  paid  annual  member- 
ships of  1,298,111,  and  1,194,472  respectively. 
In  drives  for  funds  in  June  of  19 17  and  May  of 
1918  it  acquired  $5,638,074  and  $10,524,422. 
Its  functions  in  Illinois  included  relief  to  soldiers' 
families,  instruction  clinics,  preparation  of  dress- 
ings, garments  for  refugees,  and  so  on,  and  the 
enrollment  of  trained  nurses. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  took 
over  light-heartedly  the  maintenance  of  canteen 


332  The  Story  of  Illinois 

————— 

service  and  recreation  and  amusement  at  the 
Great  Lakes  Naval  Station,  Camp  Grant,  Fort 
Sheridan,  etc.  The  Knights  of  Columbus,  the 
Jewish  Welfare  Board,  and  the  Salvation  Army- 
carried  on  similar  duties  on  a  smaller  scale.  The 
Young  Woman's  Christian  Association  main- 
tained Hostess  Houses  at  the  camps  and  looked 
after  women  engaged  in  war  work.  The  Ameri- 
can Library  Association  collected  and  bought 
books  and  provided  libraries  for  the  books  in 
this  country  and  in  France.  These  organizations 
combined  in  the  latter  part  of  191 8  to  raise 
money  in  a  United  War  Work  campaign,  to  be 
divided  pro  rata  among  their  organizations.  The 
quota  of  Illinois  was  $12,719,700,  collection  on 
it  $13,250,364,  and  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
the  armistice  shut  off  enthusiasm.  Besides  these, 
dozens  of  organizations  devoted  to  relief  to  one 
or  another  of  the  allies  functioned  in  smaller 
groups,  collecting  money  and  needed  supplies. 

The  Illinois  citizen  at  the  climax  of  the  war  in 
November,  19 18,  had  been  made  a  peculiarly 
useful  cog  in  a  war  machine.  Elaborate  organ- 
izations and  methods  of  propaganda  existed  to 
tell  him  what  was  expected  of  him  in  subscrip- 
tions, work,  etc.,  to  spur  him  on  to  accomplish 
them,  and  to  key  up  his  loyalty  to  the  govern- 
ment. That  a  reaction  came  from  the  mood  of 
exaltation  so  produced  was  not  surprising. 


The  World  War 333 

A  consideration  of  the  military  activity  of  Illi- 
nois has  been  left  to  the  last.  In  view  of  the 
numerous  slogans  such  as  "  Food  will  win  the 
war,"  the  reminder  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  that 
while  such  things  might  help  to  win  the  war  it 
would  be  won  as  wars  in  the  past,  by  fighting  men, 
was  timely.  The  military  participation  of  the  state 
is  hard  to  define  in  terms  of  battles.  Reacting 
from  the  civil  war  methods  ©f  regiments  organ- 
ized from  neighborhoods,  the  war  department 
used  a  replacement  system  that  shuffled  men  from 
localities  and  states.  Even  National  Guard  com- 
panies raised  in  a  single  town  in  19 16-19 17,  by 
March,  19 19,  could  show  representatives  of  forty 
different  states.  Comparatively  few  units  that 
saw  actual  fighting  can  be  classified  as  predom- 
inently  of  Illinois  men. 

The  selective  service  system  was  the  method  by 
which  most  Illinois  citizens  entered  the  service. 
In  the  three  respective  registrations  of  June  5, 
191 7  (men  21-30),  June  5  and  August  4,  191 8 
(men  21  since  the  first  registration),  and  Sep- 
tember 12,  191 8  (men  18-45),  Illinois  registered 
653*587,  54,375,  and  866,915,  respectively.  The 
determining  of  eligibility  from  the  first  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  local  boards,  of  which  there  were 
227.  Eight  district  boards  in  the  state  acted  upon 
appeals  for  exemption  or  deferred  classification. 
After  December  15,  19 17,  a  system  of  classifica- 


334  The  Story  of  Illinois 

tion  was  adopted  as  to  eligibility  to  service.  The 
Illinois  figures  are  class  I,  397,171,  classes  II-IV, 
534,4^5,  V,  252,033,  not  classified  (men  37"45)> 
391,208.  There  were  numerous  delinquents  in 
registration  as  might  have  been  expected  in  a  float- 
ing population :  40,000  were  rounded  up  in  Chi- 
cago in  July,  191 8.  The  total  number  inducted 
by  draft  during  the  war  was  193,338. 

The  draft,  while  the  largest,  was  not  the  most 
effective  source  of  man  power.  In  the  year  end- 
ing June  30,  1917,  there  were  30,000  applicants 
for  enlistment  in  the  army,  of  whom  16,000  were 
accepted.  The  precise  number  of  Illinoisans  who 
enlisted  first  and  last  is  not  yet  known.  The 
Navy,  in  19 17-18,  enlisted  9,600  out  of  31,000 
applicants.  Between  August  5-1 1,  19 17,  the 
whole  national  guard  of  the  state  was  federalized 
with  a  strength  of  590  officers  and  18,029  en" 
listed  men.  Its  place  was  taken  by  a  supplemen- 
tary state  militia.  The  naval  militia  of  the  state, 
40  officers  and  600  men,  were  inducted  into  the 
naval  service.  There  were  in  addition,  25,638 
enlistments  in  the  United  States  Naval  Reserve 
Force. 

The  actual  service  and  participation  of  Illinois 
men  in  the  fighting  is  hard  to  estimate.  Of  the 
many  Illinois  men  to  go  to  France  but  a  minority 
were  in  organizations  in  which  Illinois  men  pre- 
dominated.   The  honors  and  service  of  some  who 


The  World  War  335 

served  and  merited  best  are  merged  in  units  not 
classified  as  belonging  to  Illinois.  Of  the  Na- 
tional Army  Divisions  in  which  Illinois  men  were 
an  important  factor,  the  84th,  trained  at  Camp 
Taylor,  Kentucky,  was  mainly  used  for  replace- 
ments on  its  arrival  in  France,  September-Octo- 
ber, 19 1 8.  The  86th  Division,  trained  at  Camp 
Grant,  after  losing  thousands  in  replacements, 
arrived  in  France,  September  21-October  9.  All 
the  units  except  the  Field  Artillery  Brigade  were 
broken  up  for  replacements,  and  that  was  under 
training  at  the  armistice.  The  88th  Division, 
trained  at  Camp  Dodge,  Iowa,  contained  several 
units  in  which  Illinois  men  predominated.  It  ar- 
rived in  France  August-September,  191 8,  and  was 
used  on  the  front  line  in  the  Alsace  sector. 

The  13th  regiment  of  Railroad  Engineers,  en- 
listed in  May,  191 7,  sailed  for  France  in  July  and 
was  used  in  the  operation  of  railroads  behind  the 
lines.  The  370th  Infantry,  the  old  8th  Infantry 
of  the  Illinois  National  Guard,  served  with 
French  units  in  the  Oise-Aisne  offensive  of  191 8. 

The  state's  most  distinctive  unit  was  the  33rd 
Division,  made  up  of  its  National  Guard  units 
excepting  the  8th  Infantry,  1st  Field  Artillery, 
and  the  bands  of  the  5th  and  7th  Infantry  Regi- 
ments. It  was  sent  to  Camp  Logan,  Texas,  for 
training.  There  it  suffered  delays  and  setbacks 
due  to  shortage  of  equipment  and  delay  in  send- 


33&  The  Story  of  Illinois 

ing  supplemental  drafts  of  national  army  men  to 
fill  its  ranks.  It  sailed  for  France  May  8  to 
June  4  and  on  arrival  except  for  the  artillery  was 
assigned  to  the  British  for  training.  While  with 
them  detachments  of  two  of  its  regiments  were 
embodied  in  Australian  companies  in  a  minor 
operation  at  Hamel  July  4,  that  resulted  in  a 
gain  of  more  than  a  mile.  The  131st  Regiment 
assisted  in  the  British  offensive  at  Chipilly 
August  9,  191 8;  members  of  the  division  were 
decorated  by  the  king  of  Great  Britain  for  their 
service.  The  division  was  then  transferred  to 
the  Meuse  sector  where  it  took  part  in  the  offen- 
sive of  September  26,  clearing  the  left  bank  of 
the  Meuse.  It  was  next  used  in  a  flanking  attack 
across  the  Meuse  and  saw  some  hard  fighting  in 
the  struggle  to  clear  the  heights  to  the  east  of  the 
river.  Finally  it  was  relieved  and  transferred  to 
the  Troyon  sector,  where  it  was  advancing  at  the 
Armistice. 

The  33rd  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  the 
only  American  division  to  serve  under  British, 
French,  and  American  command.  It  suffered 
8,279  casualties  of  whom  785  were  killed  in  ac- 
tion. It  captured  3,987  prisoners,  was  fourth 
among  the  divisions  of  the  American  Expedition- 
ary Forces  in  prisoners  taken,  ninth  in  the  number 
of  kilometers  advanced,  twelfth  in  number  of 
casualties,    and    twentieth    in    number    killed    in 


The  World  War  337 

action.  After  the  Armistice  it  was  held  in  Luxem- 
burg until  its  return  to  the  United  States  in  May, 
1919. 

The  Illinois  unit  with  the  most  brilliant  mili- 
tary record  is  the  149th  Field  Artillery,  of  the 
42nd  or  Rainbow  Division,  so  called  because  it 
was  made  of  select  units  from  the  National  Guard 
of  twenty-six  states.  The  Illinois  First  Field 
Artillery  was  mustered  into  service  July  20,  19 17, 
and  after  a  brief  training  at  Fort  Sheridan  was 
sent  to  France  arriving  October  31,  19 17.  After 
a  long  period  of  training  it  occupied  the  Luneville 
sector,  February  21  —  March  23,  19 18,  the  Bac- 
carat sector,  March  31 — June  21,  the  Esperance 
Souain  sector,  July  4-14.  It  took  part  in  what 
is  officially  known  as  the  Champagne  —  Marne 
Defensive,  July  15-17,  helping  to  smother  Luden- 
dorff's  last  offensive.  It  served  brilliantly  in  the 
Aisne-Marne  Offensive  that  swept  the  Germans 
out  of  the  Chateau  Thierry  pocket,  July  25  — 
August  6,  19 1 8.  It  served  in  the  St.  Mihiel 
Offensive,  the  first  undertaken  by  the  American 
army,  September  12-16,  and  is  credited  with  occu- 
pation of  the  Essey  Pannes  sector,  September 
17-30.  It  took  part  twice  in  the  Meuse-Argonne 
Offensive,  October  7  —  November  1,  and  No- 
vember 5 — November  9.  It  formed  a  part  of 
the  Army  of  Occupation,  being  stationed  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  returned  to  the  United 


33 8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

States  and  was  mustered  out  in  May,  1919. 

The  recognition  by  the  state  of  the  services  of 
its  soldiers  was  generously  given.  Special  ar- 
rangements for  the  welcome  of  the  returning 
units  were  made,  most  of  the  33rd  Division 
units  being  greeted  by  the  Governor  on  their  ar- 
rival in  New  York  and  parading  in  Chicago 
before  discharge  at  Camp  Grant.  Special  civil 
service  privileges  were  awarded  all  veterans  of 
the  war;  distinctive  medals  were  authorized.  A 
history  of  the  33rd  Division  was  published  by  the 
state  and  distributed  to  members  of  the  division. 
In  1 92 1  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act  for 
a  service  compensation  to  soldiers  and  sailors 
with  a  maximum  of  $300.  The  necessary  bond 
issue  was  approved  by  the  voters  in  1922,  de- 
clared constitutional  by  the  supreme  court  of  the 
state,  and  the  payment  of  claims  begun  in  July, 
1923. 

Certain  military  and  naval  posts  in  the  state 
were  important  factors  in  training  the  enlarged 
war  forces  of  the  nation.  Great  Lakes  Naval 
Training  Station  established  on  the  lake  shore 
thirty  miles  north  of  Chicago  had  been  founded 
in  1904  for  training  naval  recruits.  It  was  en- 
larged repeatedly  after  19 17  to  take  care  of  the 
war  enlistments  and  drafts.  During  the  war  it 
sent  out  71,440  trained  men.  Its  schools  trained 
seamen,  petty,  warrant,  and  commissioned  officers, 


The  World  War  339 

actively  cooperating  with  training  ships  and 
schools  at  Chicago. 

Fort  Sheridan,  since  1893  a  regular  army  post, 
was  used  in  19 17  for  two  successive  three  months 
officers  training  camps.  The  first  camp  included 
men  from  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  and  Illinois,  and 
the  second  those  from  other  states  of  the  farther 
West  as  well.  Four  thousand  officers  were  com- 
missioned in  the  first  camp  and  3,000  in  the  sec- 
ond. In  191 8  Fort  Sheridan  was  turned  into  a 
rehabilitation  hospital,  but  has  recently  been  re- 
turned to  a  regular  army  post.  Two  flying  fields 
were  established  in  Illinois  in  June  and  July  of 
19 17,  Scott  Field  near  Belleville  and  Chanute 
Field  at  Rantoul,  the  latter  cooperating  with  the 
School  for  Military  Aeronautics  at  Urbana  from 
which  2,691  men  were  graduated. 

A  post  for  the  training  of  a  National  Army 
Division  was  built  at  Rockford  June-December, 
191 7,  and  named  Camp  Grant.  It  was  the  place 
of  training  of  the  86th  or  Black  Hawk  Division, 
but  was  also  used  as  depot  and  remount  station. 
In  192 1  it  was  abandoned  as  a  post. 

In  this  connection  should  be  mentioned  the 
units  of  the  Student  Army  Training  Corps  estab- 
lished in  colleges  and  technical  schools  of  the 
state  to  take  advantage  of  their  facilities  for 
training  officers,  noncommissioned  officers  and 
specialists.    All  told  there  were  thirty  such  units 


34°  The  Story  of  Illinois 

in  Illinois,  the  most  important  being  those  at  the 
University  of  Illinois  with  3,000,  Northwestern 
with  1,839,  and  the  University  of  Chicago  with 
1,500.  This  was  only  a  part  of  the  service  ren- 
dered by  the  specialists  of  those  universities  in  all 
capacities  from  increasing  the  yield  of  the  state's 
corn  fields  to  advising  on  the  terms  of  the  peace. 
If  the  citizens  of  Illinois  showed  themselves 
appreciative  of  the  service  of  their  men  in  the 
war,  their  reaction  to  the  war  as  a  whole  was 
more  mixed.  The  last  act  of  the  war,  the  Treaty 
of  Versailles,  came  to  the  people  tired  with  the 
strain  of  moral  exaltation  and  self-sacrifice,  and 
weary  of  being  urged  on  grounds  of  patriotism  to 
submit  to  every  piece  of  bureaucratic  inefficiency 
that  emanated  from  Washington.  The  treaty 
and  the  league  of  nations  seemed  to  commit  the 
United  States  to  expend  her  blood  and  treasure  in 
European  quarrels,  yet  unforeseen,  and  at  the 
bidding  of  others.  Half  sensed  was  the  looming 
danger  of  militarism  in  France  and  Japan  only 
less  dangerous  than  that  crushed  in  Germany. 
To  reason  was  added  the  instinctive  disgust  with 
the  party  that  while  in  control  of  the  war  gov- 
ernment had  had  to  serve  as  a  hard  taskmaster. 
And  in  the  election  of  1920  the  governed  took 
their  revenge  on  their  government.  By  a  vote 
of  1,420,480  to  534,395  Illinois  repudiated  in  a 
measure  the  policies,  but  still  more  the  govern- 


The  World  War  341 

ment  of  Wilson.  The  new  policy  of  the  United 
States  was  to  be  felt  out  by  opportunists  and  not 
imagined  by  a  theorist. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  ILLINOIS  OF  THE  PRESENT 

IN  ITS  externals  the  life  of  the  commonwealth 
of  Illinois  in  the  generation  that  followed 
1893  underwent  a  far  reaching  change.  Forces 
already  at  work,  industrialism,  the  coming  of  for- 
eign elements,  transmuted  the  nature  of  the  state. 
Chicago  from  a  great  city  became  a  world 
metropolis,  and  as  its  life  grew  more  complex  its 
problems  multiplied.  A  series  of  inventions,  the 
telephone,  the  electric  car  and  the  interurban  rail- 
road, the  automobile,  and  especially  the  cheap 
car,  the  moving  picture,  the  radio  changed  the 
means  of  amusement  and  social  habits  of  every 
class  of  the  community  above  abject  poverty.  The 
ultimate  results  of  these  things  still  lie  in  the 
future  but  their  present  influence  is  apparent  on 
every  hand. 

The  transformation  of  the  face  of  things  has 
come  most  rapidly,  of  course,  in  the  larger  cities 
and  especially  Chicago.  Since  1893  a  lake  shore 
of  dumps  and  mud  flats  has  developed  the  splen- 
did sweep  of  Michigan  Avenue,  Grant  Park  and 
the  Lake  Shore  Drive.  Vast  as  are  the  areas  of 
open  prairie  long  since  covered  with  apartments, 

342 


The  Illinois  of  the  Present  343 

the  apartment  building  is  continually  pushing  out 
not  only  the  little  houses,  frame  or  brick,  but  the 
stately  mansions  with  their  lawns  and  their  sta- 
bles. Elements  with  lower  standards  of  life  have 
invaded  one  after  another  the  older  fashionable 
sections  of  the  city;  Ashland  Boulevard,  Jackson 
Boulevard,  Washington  Boulevard,  Drexel  Boule- 
vard, South  Michigan  Avenue,  the  old  north  side. 
Only  on  Lake  Shore  Drive  has  the  aristocratic 
mansion  held  its  own.  The  city  whose  trans- 
portation needs  were  accounted  for  by  jingling 
horse  cars,  the  less  sedate  cable,  and  the  reckless 
single-truck  trolley  car,  now  finds  electric  car  and 
elevated  railroad  and  omnibusses,  even  when  sup- 
plemented by  autos,  numbered  by  the  hundred 
thousand  insufficient  for  her  needs,  and  demands 
subways.  While  the  lumber  schooner  has  van- 
ished from  the  river  and  only  occasionally  does 
a  freighter  "bridge"  traffic,  great  freight  yards 
and  belt  systems  scores  of  miles  out  in  the  coun- 
try handle  her  ever  increasing  freights.  Gas 
light  and  flickering  arc  lamps  have  yielded  to  the 
incandescent  lamp;  gas  is  now  a  fuel  rather  than 
an  illuminant,  and  electricity  is  everywhere  and 
used  for  every  household  need.  The  wooden 
block  pavement  has  changed  first  to  macadam  and 
then  to  asphalt;  cement  has  replaced  the  wooden 
sidewalk. 

The  changes  in  the  small amrtwns  are  of  the 


344  The  Story  of  Illinois 

same  nature,  but  have  come  more  slowly.  And 
the  electric  light,  the  telephone,  and  the  radio  are 
finding  their  way  to  farm  houses  in  the  wake  of 
the  gasoline  engine.  The  hard  road  and  the  auto 
are  just  beginning  the  revolution  of  rural  life; 
the  effect  they  will  have  on  the  small  village  or 
cross  roads  store,  once  the  limit  to  which  the  fam- 
ily nag  could  haul  a  buggy  through  a  road  of 
Illinois  mud,  remains  to  be  seen. 

Yet  the  externals  that  have  been  changing  so 
rapidly  should  not  blind  us  to  the  factors  beneath 
the  surface  that  change  more  slowly.  The  essen- 
tials of  the  attitude  of  man  toward  man,  economic 
relations,  political  methods  and  ideas  have  altered 
little  in  rural  Illinois.  A  traveler  on  the  high 
road  is  as  likely  to  be  proffered  a  lift  from  a  Ford 
as  ever  he  was  from  a  buggy  or  wagon.  Munic- 
ipal, life  in  Chicago,  it  is  true,  has  led  to  greater 
sophistication.  Yet  even  there  the  ideas  that 
guide  the  more  solid  citizen  in  his  relation  to  the 
state  and  to  his  neighbor  are  essentially  the  her- 
itage of  the  older  commonwealth.  With  these 
things  in  view  we  can  approach  the  actual  changes 
that  have  come. 

The  population  of  Illinois  in  the  period  in- 
creased to  six  and  a  half  millions,  increasing 
roughly  850,000  from  19 10  and  1,660,000  from 
1890.  Its  population  is  a  little  less  than  one- 
sixteenth  that  of  the  United  States.     It  has  been 


The  Illinois  of  the  Present  345 

growing  in  the  last  decade  more  slowly  than 
either  Michigan  or  Ohio,  and  in  density  of  pop- 
ulation is  now  exceeded  by  eight  states,  Ohio, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Maryland, 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island. 
The  increase  has  come  in  the  urban  population. 
The  population  classed  as  rural  in  1920,  2,082,- 
127  was  some  eighty  thousand  less  than  ten  years 
before.  In  the  same  ten  years  the  population  of 
Chicago  had  grown  about  520,000  to  2,701,705. 
Thepopulation  of  the  socalied  metropolitan  area 
of  Chicago  had  increased  from  2,455,942  to 
3,178,924.  The  increase  in  this  area  accounts 
therefore  for  all  save  about  a  hundred  thousand 
of  the  increase  in  Illinois  population.  Popula- 
tion is  increasing  also  in  the  other  Illinois  cities 
and  in  the  mining  districts. 

The  rural  counties  of  the  state  are  declining  in 
population.  In  1920  fifty-six  counties  showed  a 
decline,  in  19 10,  fifty,  in  1900,  but  six.  In  1920 
but  nine  of  the  counties  showing  a  decrease  had 
towns  of  2,500  or  over,  in  19 10,  but  six.  Mean- 
while the  development  of  the  smaller  towns  is 
assuming  importance.  In  1920  Illinois  had  sev- 
enteen towns  of  25,000  or  over  as  against  seven 
in  1900;  twenty-seven  towns  of  10,000  to  25,000 
as  against  ten  in  1900;  forty-seven  towns  of  5,000 
to  10,000  as  against  twelve  in  1900;  eighty  towns 
of  2,500  to  5,000  as  against  thirty-one  in  1900, 


346  The  Story  of  Illinois 


or  sixty  places  above  2,500  in  1900  and  171  in 
1920. 

Of  the  foreign  elements  now  in  the  population 
the  most  important  is  the  German  with  about 
one-sixth  the  total,  or  205,49^  (251*948  if 
Austria  proper  is  added)  ;  next  in  order  come 
Poles  (162,405),  Russians  (117,899),  Swedes 
(105,579),  and  Italians  (94,407).  Others  above 
50,000  in  order  are  Irish,  Bohemians,  English. 
Two-thirds  of  the  whole  foreign  element  is  in 
Chicago.  The  elements  with  strongest  repre- 
sentation down  state  are  the  English,  German, 
Italian,  and  Swedish.  The  problems  that  develop 
out  of  the  foreign  element  and  the  urban  popula- 
tion generally  will  have  to  be  dealt  with  later. 

The  question  of  Illinois  agriculture  is  a  com- 
plicated one.  The  balance  of  interest  in  the  state 
is  shifting  to  manufacturing.  Thus  the  value  set 
on  all  farm  property  in  the  state  including  land 
in  1920  was  $6,666,767,235,  about  a  billion  dol- 
lars more  than  the  value  of  all  manufactured 
products  in  the  state  in  19 19.  If  the  investment 
in  agricultural  land  be  deducted,  the  value  of 
farm  property  in  the  state  is  but  $i,4i6,472>483- 
Yet  Illinois  under  the  stimulus  of  the  war  had 
increased  its  crops  amazingly.  From  1909  to 
19 19  the  harvest  of  corn  had  fallen  off  2,000,000 
acres  and  that  of  wheat  had  increased  as  much. 
In  1920  it  had  on  its  farms   1,296,852  horses, 


The  Illinois  of  the  Present  347 

168,274  mules,  1,283,178  beef  cattle,  1,505,060 
dairy  cattle,  637,685  sheep,  4,639,182  swine. 
This  may  serve  to  outline  roughly  the  character 
of  Illinois  farming  —  wheat  growing,  corn  grow- 
ing and  stock  feeding,  dairying,  hog  raising.  In 
1920  and  19 10  it  was  exceeded  only  by  Iowa  and 
Texas  in  the  value  of  the  live  stock  on  its  farms, 
only  by  the  same  states  in  19 19  in  the  value  of 
its  crops,  where  it  ranked  first  in  the  union  ten 
years  before.  Illinois  agriculture  has  gained  ab- 
solutely, has  fallen  relatively  behind  two  other 
states,  and  relatively  far  behind  manufacturing 
at  home. 

Yet  this  is  only  a  mass  consideration.  More 
important  than  absolute  product  from  the  social 
point  of  view  is  the  way  the  land  is  farmed  and 
held  and  the  prosperity  of  those  who  farm  it. 
Much  has  been  written  about  the  increase  of  ten- 
ant farming  in  Illinois,  and  the  growth  of  the 
class  of  retired  farmers  in  the  little  towns.  The 
per  cent  of  farms  held  by  tenants  has  increased 
from  thirty-four  per  cent  in  1890  to  forty-two 
and  seven-tenths  per  cent  in  1920,  but  the  rate  of 
increase  has  been  steadily  less;  in  the  last  ten 
years  but  one  and  three-tenths  per  cent.  Mean- 
while the  number  of  farms  is  declining,  from 
251,872  in  1910  to  237,181  in  1920.  The  acre- 
age of  land  in  farms  is  declining  also  —  eighty- 
nine  and  one-tenth  per  cent  of  the  state's  area  in 


34-8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

1920,  ninety  and  seven-tenths  per  cent  in  19 10. 
These  figures,  however,  have  fluctuated  for  the 
last  fifty  years  in  such  a  way  that  no  lesson  is  to 
be  drawn  from  them.  More  significant  is  the 
fact  that  while  both  the  bonanza  wheat  or  cattle 
ranch  and  the  small  farm  holdings  are  declining 
in  numbers,  the  farms  of  100  to  499  acres  in 
size  are  increasing  in  number. 

Illinois  agriculture  would  then  seem  at  present 
to  be  tending  to  a  status  in  which  farming  is  done 
neither  by  intensive  "  spade  husbandry"  or  by 
large-scale  managed  enterprises  —  but  by  the  di- 
rection of  one  man,  the  owner  or  tenant  super- 
vising a  small  group  of  labor  with  which  he  is 
in  close  and  immediate  touch;  economically  this 
is  probably  preferable  to  the  small  holding;  so- 
cially it  is  far  preferable  to  the  great  ranch  in 
developing  a  rural  citizenry.  Tenant  farming 
generally,  unless  the  tenant  has  the  prospect  of 
ownership,  seems  from  the  angle  of  efficient  farm- 
ing, from  the  angle  of  the  immediate  social  and 
economic  welfare  of  the  tenant  or  the  ultimate 
welfare  of  the  owner,  undesirable.  That  its  in- 
crease has  slackened  seems  likely.  Tenancy  has 
increased  fastest  in  the  cereal  growing  parts  of 
the  state  and  not  on  the  diversified  farm. 

In  the  state  at  large  prosperity  in  the  nineties 
has  revolutionized  the  agricultural  regions;  the 
cabin  and  the  wretched  pioneer  farm  house  have 


The  Illinois  of  the  Present  349 

been  replaced  by  neat  frame  structures;  the  tele- 
phone has  linked  rural  communities  together  and 
given  lonely  housewives  the  feeling  of  nearness 
of  neighborly  assistance  and  gossip.  The  Ford 
and  the  hard  road  and  the  interurban  have  helped 
to  unite  the  farm  house  with  the  town;  and  im- 
proved agricultural  machinery  has  revolutionized 
farming  and  allowed  the  steady  release  of  rural 
population  to  the  large  cities. 

Manufacturing  in  Illinois  has  grown  past  all 
telling  in  the  last  generation.  The  number  of 
persons  employed  has  grown  from  561,044  in 
1909  to  804,805  in  19 19.  Some  160  industries 
in  the  state  had  products  of  over  $3,000,000  in 
value  beginning  with  slaughtering  and  packing, 
foundry  and  machine  shop  products,  men's  cloth- 
ing, iron  and  steel,  agricultural  implements,  rail- 
road cars,  electrical  machinery,  flour,  printing 
and  publishing,  car  repairs.  Of  the  manufac- 
tures of  the  state  67.4%  in  19 19  were  in  Chicago, 
11%  in  other  cities  above  25,000,  5.9%  in  cities 
of  10,000  to  25,000.  If  similar  figures  were 
available  for  the  so-called  Chicago  metropolitan 
area  it  would  show  even  more  strikingly  how 
manufacture  centers  in  Chicago. 

The  description  of  manufacture  must  be  left  to 
the  reader's  imagination  to  dress  in  their  true 
life  the  facts  concealed  in  the  dry  government 
statistical  formula.    The  outpour  of  products  of 


35°  The  Story  of  Illinois 

almost  all  imaginable  things;  the  ceaseless  play 
of  inventions  and  of  new  methods  of  manufac- 
ture, the  devising  of  new  goods;  the  grouping  into 
manufacturing  districts  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  wage  earners,  the  mingling  of  thousands  of 
diverse  sexes,  ages,  races,  moral  and  intellectual 
habits  in  great  factories;  the  even  closer  influence 
and  intercourse  possible  in  smaller  ones  —  here 
you  have  forces  that  by  intermarriages,  by  inter- 
change of  ideas  and  standards  can  profoundly 
influence  the  future  of  the  commonwealth  on  its 
intellectual  and  social  side.  Unless  the  employ- 
ment of  women  and  the  young  is  closely  watched, 
the  physical  effects  may  be  altogether  bad.  State 
factory  inspections,  welfare  work  by  the  state,  by 
the  charitable  organizations,  by  enterprises  them- 
selves, all  show  recognition  of  the  importance  of 
a  solution  of  the  problem  in  the  interests  of  all. 
Immediately  with  a  view  to  dealing  with  work- 
ing conditions  and  wages  have  come  organized 
labor  and  trade  unions.  The  centrifugal  forces 
of  labor  organization  in  Illinois  have  been  less 
violent  than  elsewhere  of  late  years.  There  have 
been  great  strikes  it  is  true:  in  1894  a  railroad 
strike  in  Chicago  led  President  Cleveland  in  de- 
fiance of  Governor  Altgeld  to  send  federal 
troops;  the  strike  was  led  by  Eugene  V.  Debs 
who  in  a  resulting  term  in  Federal  prison  turned 
socialist.      Street    car    strikes,    packers'    strikes, 


The  Illinois  of  the  Present  351 

above  all  building  trades  strikes  have  come  with 
threatened  disorder  in  their  train.  True  in  the 
conservative  trades  organization  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  the  Chicago  Federation  of 
Labor  has  long  been  regarded  as  comparatively 
radical  in  tone,  but  syndicalism,  or  the  control  of 
industry  by  the  workers  brought  about  by  vio- 
lence and  revolution,  and  the  Industrial  Workers 
of  the  World,  with  its  methods  of  sabotage  have 
had  comparatively  little  weight.  Corruption  there 
undoubtedly  has  been  in  trades  unionism  in  Illi- 
nois as  in  many  other  organizations.  Trade 
union  officials  have  maintained  their  position  in 
their  unions  by  violence  and  have  used  their  posi- 
tions to  extort  bribes  from  employers  or  have  en- 
tered into  corrupt  understandings  with  them. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  in  insisting  on  increased 
wages  the  American  Federation  trades  unions  in- 
sist also  on  lessened  production;  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  grading  down  of  standards  and  rates  of 
production  have  taken  away  from  the  skilled 
workman  the  incentive  to  surpass  the  unskilled; 
there  is  no  doubt  that  by  limitation  of  union  mem- 
bership and  apprenticeship,  unions  are  tending  to 
become  monopolies.  Yet  with  all  the  drag  the 
unions  have  put  on  production,  there  is  no  ques- 
tion that  they  have  raised  to  a  comfortable  liv- 
ing wage  vast  masses  previously  on  the  edge  of 
poverty. 


352  The  Story  of  Illinois 

This  has  been  done  somewhat  at  the  expense 
of  unskilled  labor,  somewhat  at  the  expense  of 
the  profits  of  capital  but  most  at  the  expense  of 
the  unorganized  middle  class.  Whether  it  is  pos- 
sible in  the  long  run  for  these  things  to  continue ; 
whether  the  trades  unions  will  not  have  to  revise 
their  attitude  toward  individual  initiative  in  pro- 
duction if  the  United  States  is  to  continue  to  sell 
in  the  world  markets  is  a  question  that  the  future 
can  answer;  but  with  all  the  violence,  extortion, 
and  inefficiency  that  have  arisen  in  its  wake  in 
terms  of  social  welfare  the  balance  is  decidedly 
in  favor  of  trade  unionism.  It  has  postponed 
the  sharp  development  of  self  conscious  economic 
classes  politically  organized  in  the  state;  and  that 
for  the  solution  of  Illinois'  problem  of  unity  is 
itself  an  advantage. 

Consolidation  has  come  in  industry;  sometimes 
it  has  reversed  itself.  The  International  Har- 
vester Company,  formed  in  1902,  represents  a 
merger  of  the  interests  in  Chicago's  oldest  line 
of  manufacturing.  The  steel  and  iron  consolida- 
tions of  1 899-1902  have  been  permanent  but  not 
all  embracing ;  the  Pullman  Company  under  vari- 
ous changes  of  name  has  moved  toward  control 
of  its  industry;  but  George  Pullman's  experimen- 
tal model  town  of  Pullman  stands  today  a  dreary 
red  brick  monument  to  the  taste  in  architecture 
of  the   eighties.     The  packing  merger  brought 


The  Illinois  of  the  Present  353 

about  in  1903  was  dissolved  in  191 2;  but  con- 
solidation has  gradually  continued  since.  In  cer- 
tain lines  Chicago  has  to  admit  the  growth  of 
rivals;  her  packing  industry  has  not  grown  as 
fast  as  it  might  have  but  for  Kansas  City  and 
Omaha;  Peoria  has  become  a  distributing  center 
for  agricultural  machinery;  and  much  grain  that 
formerly  was  warehoused  at  Chicago  now  is 
shipped  through  to  the  coast. 

Commensurate  with  the  increase  in  both  manu- 
facturing and  agriculture  has  come  increase  in 
commerce,  finance  and  exchange  mechanisms. 
The  financing  of  business  and  agricultural  enter- 
prises has  multiplied  banks,  national  and  state 
and  private,  until  the  state  act  of  19 19  put  the 
private  banks  out  of  business.  It  has  multiplied 
still  more  the  whole  business  mechanism,  jobbing, 
wholesaling,  commission  handling,  advertising. 
Chicago  originated  the  mail  order  business  and 
from  the  catalogues  of  its  houses,  bulky  as  city 
directories,  pickled  pork  and  phonographs,  am- 
munition and  cosmetics,  watches  and  farm  ma- 
chinery, are  sold  from  end  to  end  of  the  nation. 
The  office  buildings  of  the  Chicago  loop  are  the 
testimony  to  commercial  development.  Figures 
and  statistics  of  this  development  are  hard  to  find; 
it  is  too  evanescent  to  yield  to  the  statistical  test. 
Whether  the  tendency  is  a  healthy  one  or  not 
may  well  be  questioned.     Great  numbers  of  per- 


354  The  Story  of  Illinois 

sons  employing  themselves  as  middle  men  exact 
middle  men's  toll  of  the  product  of  industry  be- 
fore it  passes  to  the  consumer;  and  the  waste  of 
the  system  may  easily  overcome  its  economies. 

The  period,  especially  the  last  ten  years  of  it 
saw  the  rounding  out  of  the  state's  banking  sys- 
tem. The  banks  organized  under  the  National 
Banking  Act  of  1863  had  furnished  an  element 
of  stability.  The  state  banks  surviving  the  Bank- 
ing Act  of  1 85 1  were  supplemented  by  another 
group  created  under  the  State  Act  of  1887  pro- 
viding for  supervision  of  state  banks  by  the  au- 
ditor of  public  accounts.  Under  the  Federal 
Reserve  Act  of  19 13  Northern  Illinois  was  in- 
cluded in  the  Seventh  Federal  Reserve  District 
and  Southern  Illinois  in  the  Eighth.  The  private 
banks  that  had  flourished  beside  the  national  and 
state  banks  were  ended  by  Acts  of  19 17  and 
19 1 9  which  required  all  such  banks  to  take  out 
state  charters  or  go  out  of  business.  So  little 
was  known  of  these  banks  that  their  number, 
something  under  600  in  191 5,  was  matter  of 
guess  work.  There  had  been  frequent  failures 
among  them.  In  1920  the  484  Illinois  National 
Banks  had  aggregate  capital  of  $92,561,000  and 
surplus  of  $64,020,000.  The  1,018  state  banks 
had  an  aggregate  capital  of  $116,879,205.  The 
combined  resources  of  national  and  state  banks 
reached  the  huge  sum  of  $3,500,000,000. 


The  Illinois  of  the  Present  355 

The  transportation  system  of  the  state  centers 
more  and  more  on  the  railroad.  The  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Canal  fell  into  disuse.  The  Hennepin 
Canal  connecting  the  Illinois  and  the  Mississippi 
opened  in  1907  was  never  used.  The  Chicago 
Drainage  Canal  opened  in  1900  was  used  but  oc- 
casionally and  for  barge  traffic.  In  spite  of  this 
the  deep  waterway  idea  persisted.  In  1908  a 
bond  issue  to  carry  the  canal  to  Utica  was  au- 
thorized; nothing  was  done.  In  191 5  an  eight 
foot  channel  canal  was  projected  in  an  act  of  the 
legislature;  it  has  yet  to  be  built.  Lake  traffic 
has  fallen  off  rapidly.  The  port  of  Chicago  has 
become  inaccessible  for  the  largest  freight  steam- 
ers. Fifty-five  per  cent  of  grain  and  flour  moved 
east  by  boat  in  1894,  twenty  per  cent  in  191 5. 
Iron  ore  is  the  most  important  commodity  of  lake 
traffic  now.  The  varied  traffic  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  as  a  result  of  railroad  rate  discrim- 
ination is  the  shadow  of  its  former  importance. 

The  railroad  expanded  to  its  full  use  in  the 
period  and  saw  the  beginning  of  its  decline.  Its 
competition  and  discriminating  rates  had  driven 
traffic  off  the  rivers.  Railroads  owned  lines  of 
lake  steamers  till  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission compelled  their  sale.  Improving  their 
facilities,  adding  to  their  equipment,  extending 
their  lines,  the  railroads  had  reached  the  limit  of 
their  powers  by  1900.     Then  hostile  legislation 


35 6  The  Story  of  Illinois 

began  to  have  its  effect.  There  was  rigorous 
regulation  of  rates  and  passes  by  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission,  and  the  imposition  of  a 
two  cent  a  mile  fare  by  Illinois  in  1907.  It  was 
in  chastened  mood  with  old  equipment  and  de- 
teriorated road  beds  that  they  approached  the 
war  in  19 1 7.  At  the  end  of  it,  relieved  by  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  of  the  two  cent 
fare,  charging  high  rates  for  freight  and  pas- 
sengers alike,  they  stood  ready  for  the  future; 
what  it  holds  cannot  be  told. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  competition 
is  falling  on  them  savagely  from  several  direc- 
tions. They  had  met  occasional  competition  in 
short  hauls  of  freight  and  passengers  from  the 
interurbans  that  sprang  up  in  the  last  twenty 
years.  These  had  increased  in  mileage,  single 
systems  reaching  to  350  miles;  but  both  interur- 
ban  and  railroad  are  being  superseded  on  this 
sort  of  business  by  the  hard  road  and  the  auto- 
mobile. How  far  truck  fleets  will  cut  into  short 
haul  freight  in  this  section  can  hardly  be  told  till 
the  state  hard  roads  are  in  working  order. 

The  movement  to  pull  Illinois  out  of  the  mud 
is  hardly  of  age.  The  legislatures  of  the  forma- 
tive period  of  the  state  had  sought  to  make  roads 
by  legislative  fiat.  For  two  generations  the  leg- 
islature had  tinkered  the  general  road  law  appar- 
ently in  search  of  the  magic  word  that  would  turn 


The  Illinois  of  the  Present  357 

rich  prairie  mud  into  stone  and  gravel.  Agita- 
tion for  hard  roads  at  a  commensurate  outlay  be- 
gan about  the  year  1896.  The  farmers  for  years 
were  skeptical,  fearing  lest  they  pay  the  cost  for 
the  city  man's  pleasure  ways.  In  1905  a  state 
highway  commission  was  authorized,  and  it  or- 
ganized in  1906.  Next  year  counties  were  au- 
thorized to  put  out  bond  issues  to  build  hard 
roads.  In  19 14  Cook  and  Vermilion  counties 
took  advantage  of  it.  In  19 13  the  Tice  road  law 
appropriated  $1,300,000  for  roads.  A  congres- 
sional subvention  of  19 16  amounted  to  $3,000,- 
000.  In  191 8  a  road  bond  issue  of  $60,000,000 
was  authorized.  Under  it  roads  are  everywhere 
reaching  completion  at  present.  A  new  bond 
issue  of  $100,000,000  was  authorized  by  the  leg- 
islature of  1923.  It  has  yet  to  be  passed  on  by 
the  electorate. 

Education  in  Illinois  has  changed  very  rapidly 
in  the  cities,  less  rapidly  in  the  country.  Thirty 
years  ago  in  either  one  the  subjects  taught  were 
much  the  same;  the  three  R's,  geography,  his- 
tory, grammar.  The  city  school  has  long  since 
added  dozens  of  additional  graces  —  music;  sci- 
ences; it  has  sought  from  the  normal  schools 
teachers  with  new  theories  as  to  the  methods  of 
teaching. 

The  city  high  schools  have  developed,  till  in 
the   subjects   they   attempt,    the   equipment   with 


35 8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

which  they  attempt  them,  and  the  community  life 
they  seek  to  foster,  they  rival  the  colleges  of  for- 
mer generations.  Some  of  them  are  essentially 
free  technical  schools  or  junior  colleges.  Mean- 
while, over  the  face  of  the  country  have  arisen 
hundreds  of  township  high  schools,  bringing  the 
aspiration  for  high  school  education  to  thousands 
upon  thousands  of  students  who  formerly  never 
dared  to  hope  for  it.  The  burden  of  primary 
and  secondary  school  education  grows  heavier  and 
heavier,  till  men  are  found  to  exclaim  that  the 
burden  of  universal  education  is  too  heavy  for 
the  state  to  bear.  That  the  state  shows  any  sign 
of  withdrawing  from  the  ideal  set  high  in  her 
first  basic  law  the  Northwest  Ordinance,  is  not 
apparent.  Education  may  become  more  efficient; 
there  is  certainly  no  orospect  of  its  being  re- 
stricted. 

As  feeders  of  teachers  to  the  secondary  schools 
of  the  state,  new  normal  schools  have  developed. 
To  the  original  one  at  Normal,  dating  from  1857, 
and  the  southern  at  Carbondale  in  1869,  have 
been  lately  added  three  more  at  Charleston, 
DeKalb  and  Macomb.  Technical  schools  have 
been  founded,  Armour  Institute  in  1893,  Lewis 
Institute  in   1896,  Bradley  Polytechnic  in   1897. 

Above  all,  the  generation  has  seen  the  found- 
ing of  one  great  university  in  the  state  and  the 
expansion  of  two  colleges  to  universities.     Chi- 


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The  Illinois  of  the  Present  359 

cago,  which  first  opened  its  doors  in  1892  under 
the  leadership  of  William  Rainey  Harper,  set  as 
its  ideal  the  union  of  collegiate  life  with  graduate 
instruction  then  to  be  found  in  but  one  or  two 
other  institutions  of  the  country;  since  its  found- 
ing, graduate  schools  have  grown  up  in  the 
United  States  by  the  dozen;  but  Chicago  in  spite 
of  the  donations  it  has  drawn  from  Chicago  citi- 
zens is  to  be  ranked  as  essentially  a  national  in- 
stitution rather  than  a  municipal  or  a  state  uni- 
versity. 

The  career  or  the  University  of  Illinois  has 
been  different.  While  its  work  in  department 
after  department  has  set  standards  of  scholarship 
and  research  for  the  United  States  and  Europe, 
it  has  always  to  remember  that  it  is  essentially  the 
servant  of  the  state  of  Illinois.  In  many  ways 
it  has  an  old  established  record  of  service.  For 
over  fifty  years  on  its  experimental  plots  a  dif- 
ference of  a  foot  in  the  growth  of  corn  has 
preached  to  the  farmer  the  value  of  fertilization 
and  crop  rotation ;  in  every  branch  of  agriculture, 
in  ceramics,  in  mining,  in  the  various  branches 
of  engineering,  in  chemistry,  its  experimental  sta- 
tions have  stood  ready  to  guide  the  industries  of 
the  state  and  teach  them  scientific  methods.  Its 
undergraduate  and  graduate  schools  have  trained 
and  sent  forth  public  servants,  engineers,  farmers, 
teachers,  doctors  by  the  tens  of  thousands. 


3^°  The  Story  of  Illinois 

Northwestern  University,  though  it  has  its 
graduate  school,  and  affiliated  colleges  of  law, 
medicine,  dentistry,  commerce,  and  journalism,  is 
still  essentially  a  great  undergraduate  institution 
offering  general  training  in  the  arts  and  sciences. 
The  colleges  of  the  state  older,  many  of  them, 
than  its  three  universities  have  advanced  more 
slowly  and  steadily.  The  social  training  afforded 
by  the  small  colleges  in  close  contact  of  teacher 
and  pupil  has  its  recognized  value;  and  Knox, 
Illinois,  Rockford,  Millikin,  to  mention  only  a 
few  of  many  institutions  have  been  furnishing  it 
with  thorough  instruction. 

Other  institutions  of  general  culture  that  seek 
to  hold  it  at  high  levels  must  be  considered.  In 
addition  to  the  libraries  of  the  universities  of  the 
state,  and  the  Chicago  Public  Library,  Chicago 
possesses  two  admirable  scholars'  libraries,  the 
John  Crerar,  specializing  in  the  sciences,  and  the 
Newberry,  with  its  works  in  the  arts,  literature 
and  history,  collected  in  Europe  thirty-five  years 
ago  and  long  since  irreplacahle.  In  19 17  the  two 
libraries  together  with  the  University  of  Chicago 
offered  to  scholars  in  Chicago  a  million  and  a 
half  of  books. 

The  Field  Columbian  Museum,  housed  for 
twenty-five  years  in  one  of  the  loveliest  buildings 
of  the  World's  Fair  in  Jackson  Park,  was 
moved  to  a  new  building  on  the  lake  front,  where 


The  Illinois  of  the  Present  361 

it  houses  impressive  scientific  collections  in  pale- 
ontology, ethnology,  and  allied  sciences.  The 
Art  Institute  based  in  1879  on  tne  °ld  Academy 
of  Fine  Arts  of  Chicago  has  housed  in  its  build- 
ing in  Grant  Park  a  collection  steadily  increasing 
in  size  and  excellence.  Especially  impressive  are 
its  collections  of  Inness,  of  the  late  French 
schools,  and  of  the  primitives.  Its  art  school  is 
one  of  the  oldest  and  largest  in  the  United  States. 
The  Chicago  Historical  Society  founded  in  1857 
has  replaced  the  priceless  collection  it  lost  in  the 
fire  of  1 87 1  with  one  equally  priceless. 

The  symphony  orchestra  begun  by  Theodore 
Thomas  in  1869  has  become  long  since  one  of 
the  musical  institutions  of  the  United  States;  Chi- 
cago Grand  Opera  has  had  a  meteoric  if  irregu- 
lar career;  musical  organizations  such  as  the 
Apollo  Club  chorus  have  sprung  up.  Chicago 
theaters  have  increased  in  number,  even  if  they 
have  tended  more  and  more  to  fall  into  a  sub- 
ordinate role  to  New  York  as  the  dramatic  cen- 
ter of  the  country.  In  outlining  these  develop- 
ments especial  attention  has  been  paid  to  Chicago; 
but  at  Peoria,  at  Springfield,  at  a  dozen  Illinois 
cities  similar,  if  less  striking,  developments  could 
be  noted;  municipal  galleries  of  art,  municipal 
choirs,  municipal  libraries. 

Yet  significant  as  is  all  this  the  critic  may  say 
that  Illinois  has  been  content  to  absorb  with  her 


3^2  The  Story  of  Illinois 

wealth  the  art  of  past  ages  and  to  hoard  it  rather 
than  to  appreciate  it  or  to  use  it  as  a  starting 
point  of  aspiration  for  something  better.  Her 
attitude  has  not  been  perhaps  that  of  that  hard 
headed  Roman  general,  beau  ideal  of  Philistin- 
ism in  all  ages,  who  in  removing  the  artistic  spoils 
of  the  golden  age  of  Greece  to  Rome  specified 
with  the  contractors  that  pieces  lost  should  be  re- 
placed by  others  of  equal  value;  but  it  has  been 
conformable. 

Perhaps  in  poetry  Illinois  has  come  closest  to 
striking  an  original  note.  At  Springfield  Nicho- 
las Vachel  Lindsay  writes  songs  for  democracy 
that  democracy  obstinately  refuses  to  sing;  Edgar 
Lee  Masters  once  of  Lewistown,  carefully 
searches  out  and  records  the  decadent  in  the  Illi- 
nois generation  that  followed  the  pioneers;  like 
the  unhistorical  minded  in  all  generations  he  in- 
nocently contrasts  with  the  sordidness  of  army 
life  in  the  Spanish-American  war  the  idealism  of 
the  revolutionary  soldier  and  the  frontiersman. 
Carl  Sandburg  in  patched  and  striped  verse  dis- 
sects Chicago  and  its  life  for  the  delight  of  the 
radical. 

Yet  as  far  as  wide  popular  appeal  goes,  these 
poets  are  all  exotic;  the  means  of  culture  already 
enumerated  are  equally  exotic.  The  culture  they 
exhale  is  rising  more  and  more  above  the  head 
even   of   the   average   undergraduate.      Between 


The  Illinois  of  the  Present  3^3 

the  heights  of  the  state's  borrowed  culture  and 
the  tastes  of  its  masses  there  is  a  great  gulf;  what 
is  the  reason? 

As  a  matter  of  fact  a  culture  arising  from  the 
tastes  of  the  masses  in  Illinois  as  elsewhere  is 
rapidly  levelling  all  classes  to  a  plane,  low  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  "high  brow"  but  still 
to  be  termed  culture.  The  life  of  the  people  of 
Chicago,  of  the  smaller  cities,  even  of  the  small 
towns,  has  strangely  humanized  in  the  last  thirty 
years.  Where  children  formerly  sat  disconso- 
lately on  iron  benches  in  parks  bristling  with 
"keep  off  the  grass"  signs,  or  on  granite  sea 
walls  overlooking  the  lake,  there  now  stretch 
miles  of  lawns  free  to  all,  and  miles  of  bathing 
beaches  where  babies  are  taught  by  their  mothers 
to  swim  almost  as  soon  as  to  walk.  Playgrounds 
have  sprung  up  by  the  hundreds  and  parks  have 
multiplied;  not  only  Chicago,  but  Springfield,  Al- 
ton, Peoria,  Quincy,  have  their  park  systems  on 
a  generous  scale.  Golf  links  and  tennis  courts 
are  everywhere  to  be  used  by  anyone  with  energy 
to  seek  them  out.  In  imitation  of  the  country 
clubs  of  the  millionaire,  country  clubs  within  the 
reach  of  moderate  incomes  multiply  by  dozens 
around  Chicago,  and  appear  in  smaller  cities; 
and  above  all  the  new  roads  stretch  as  invitingly 
away  before  the  second  hand  Ford  car  as  before 
the  Rolls   Royce.     Everywhere  the  tourist  will 


3^4  The  Story  of  Illinois 

find  camp  grounds  to  learn  the  lesson  of  mutual 
consideration  in  keeping  them  sanitary.  The  out 
of  doors  no  longer  belongs  to  the  rich  only.  And 
in  the  motor  and  its  cult  they  have  a  community 
of  interest  with  the  poor. 

They  are  gaining  a  similar  unity  of  interest 
more  and  more  in  their  reading  and  dramatic  en- 
tertainments. Whereas  the  magazines  of  a  gen- 
eration ago  are  barely  holding  their  own,  story 
magazines  by  the  hundred  have  sprung  up  be- 
side them  usually  offering  the  crudest  of  mental 
stimulus.  The  u movies"  offer  fundamentally  the 
same  sort  of  entertainment,  the  same  acting,  the 
same  action,  the  same  story,  the  same  moral  out- 
look, the  same  hero  and  heroine  to  the  dime  of 
the  poor  child  and  the  dollar  of  the  well-to-do. 
The  amusements  of  the  vast  masses  of  Illinois 
citizens,  therefore,  are  more  and  more  offering  a 
common  basis  of  unity.  Class  warfare  between 
representatives  of  labor  and  capital  is  less  likely 
so  long  as  they  have  the  same  intellectual  stand- 
ards. Community  of  amusements  is  the  single 
common  factor  that  unites  all  racial  stocks  within 
the  state.  The  narrowness,  the  intolerance,  the 
self  satisfaction  with  its  cultural  standards  of  the 
middle  western  village  and  city  have  been  set 
forth  in  masterly  literary  caricature.  But  Sin- 
clair Lewis  will  not  laugh  Illinois  standards  of 
amusements   down    as    Cervantes   laughed   away 


The  Illinois  of  the  Present  365 

Spanish  chivalry.  Inasmuch  as  the  enjoyment  of 
these  media  of  expression  is  becoming  common 
to  vast  masses  of  population,  it  is  possible  that 
they  may  become  the  outlet  for  the  artistic  im- 
pulses of  a  future  generation.  There  is  more 
hope  in  them  than  in  the  borrowings  of  exotic 
cultures  of  former  ages,  for  they  represent  an 
innate  and  not  an  acquired  taste,  and  are  capable 
of  growth. 

Perhaps  they  may  be  a  means  to  an  end.  The 
world  in  some  twenty  thousand  years  of  its  artistic 
history  has  seen  few  periods  of  real  original  ex- 
pression; the  cave  paintings  of  the  Cro-Magnon 
man,  the  art  of  ancient  Egypt,  and  Assyria,  the 
art  of  the  ancient  Greece,  the  art  of  the  Gothic 
Cathedral.  For  the  development  of  a  new  cul- 
tural expression  Illinois  and  the  America  of  the 
twentieth  century  may  be  ready. 


APPENDIX 


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VOTE  OF  ILLINOIS  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY 

No.  of 

electoral 

votes  cast 

1820    James  Monroe 3 

1824    Andrew   Jackson 2 

John  Quincy  Adams 1 

a  828     Andrew    Jackson 3 

1832     Andrew    Jackson 5 

1836     Martin  Van  Buren,  Democrat 5 

1840     Martin  Van  Buren,  Democrat 5 

1 844     James  K.  Polk,   Democrat 9 

1 848     Lewis   Cass,   Democrat 9 

1852     Franklin  Pierce,  Democrat 11 

1856     James  Buchanan,  Democrat 11 

i860     Abraham  Lincoln,  Republican 11 

1864     Abraham  Lincoln,  Union 16 

1868     Ulysses  S.   Grant,   Republican 16 

1872     Ulysses  S.  Grant,  Republican 21 

1876     Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  Republican 21 

1880     James  A.  Garfield,  Republican 21 

1884     James  G.  Blaine,  Republican 22 

1888     Benjamin  Harrison,  Republican 22 

1892     Grover  Cleveland,  Democrat 24 

1896     William    McKinley,    Republican 24 

1900    William  McKinley,  Republican 24 

1904     Theodore  Roosevelt,   Republican „  .  .  .  .  27 

1908     William  H.  Taft,  Republican 27 

191 2     Woodrow  Wilson,  Democrat 29 

19 16     Charles  E.  Hughes,  Republican 29 

1920    Warren  G.   Harding,  Republican 29 


372 


VOTE  FOR  GOVERNOR  FROM  1818  TO  1920 

1818 
Shadrach  Bond,  elected  without  opposition. 

1822 

Thomas  C.   Browne 2,443 

Joseph  Phillips 2,687 

James   B.   Moore 622 

Edward    Coles 2,854 

1826 

Ninian    Edwards 6,280 

Thomas  Sloo,  Jr 5,833 

Adolphus  F.  Hubbard 580 

1830 

John   Reynolds 12,837 

William    Kinney 8,938 

John  Tillson,  Jr 1 

1834 

Joseph    Duncan 17,330 

William    Kinney 10,224 

Robert  K.  McLaughlin 4,315 

James  Adams 887 

Scattering 15 

1838 

Thomas  Carlin,  Democrat 30,648 

Cyrus   Edwards,  Whig 29,722 

373 


374  The  Story  of  Illinois 


1842 

Thomas   Ford,   Democrat 46,507 

Joseph   Duncan,   Whig 39,020 

Charles  M.  Hunter,  Liberty 913 

1846 

Augustus  C.  French,  Democrat. 58,656 

Thomas  M.  Kilpatrick,  Whig 37,033 

Richard  Eels,  Liberty 5,157 

1848 

Augustus  C.  French,  Democrat 67,828 

Charles  V.  Dyer,  Free  Soil 4,692 

W.  L.  D.  Morrison,  Whig 5,659 

1852 

Joel  A.  Matteson,  Democrat 1 80,789 

E.  B.  Webb,  Whig 64,408 

D.  A.  Knowlton,  Free  Soil 9,024 

1856 

Wm.  H.  Bissell,   Republican 1 1 1,466 

Wm.  A.  Richardson,  Democrat 106,679 

Buckner  S.  Morris,  American 19,088 

i860 

Richard  Yates,  Republican 172,196 

James  C.  Allen,  Democrat. 159,253 

J.  W.  Checkering,  Breckenridge  Democrat.  ...  1,148 

John  T.  Stuart,  Constitutional  Union 1,626 

John    Hassock ,. 46 

Wm.    Brown , 68 

Scattering    17 


Appendix  375 


1864 

Richard  J.  Oglesby,  Union ....  190,376 

James  C.  Robinson,  Democrat 158,701 

1868 

John  M.  Palmer,   Republican 249,912 

John  R.  Eden,  Democrat I99>8i3 

1872 

Richard  J.  Oglesby,  Republican 237,774 

Gustave   Koerner,    Democrat 197,084 

B.  G.  Wright,  Prohibition 2,185 

1876 

Shelby  M.  Cullom,  Republican 279,263 

Lewis  Steward,   Democrat 272,465 

James  F.  Simpson 181 

Samuel  B.  Allen , .  184 

1880 

Shelby  M.  Cullom,  Republican 3H>565 

Lyman  Trumbull,  Democrat. . 277,532 

IA.  J.  Streeter,  Greenback 28,898 

Uriah  Copp,  Jr.,  Prohibition 122 

1884 

Richard  J.  Oglesby,  Republican 334,234 

Carter  H.  Harrison,  Democrat 319,635 

Jesse   Harper,   Greenback 8,605 

James  B.  Hobbs,  Prohibition 10,905 

Scattering    10 


376  The  Story  of  Illinois 

1888 

Joseph  W.  Fifer,  Republican 367,860 

John   M.   Palmer,   Democrat 355,313 

David  H.  Harts,  Prohibition 18,874 

Willis  W.  Jones,  Labor 6,394 

Scattering 6 

1892 

John  W.  Fifer,  Republican 402,686 

John  P.  Altgeld,  Democrat 425,558 

Robert  R.   Link,   Prohibition 24,808 

Nathan  M.  Barnett,  Peoples 20,103 

1896 

John  P.  Altgeld,  Democrat 474,256 

John  R.  Tanner,  Republican 587,637 

George  W.  Gere,  Prohibition 1 4,5 59 

Charles  A.  Baustian,  National 985 

Isaac  W.  Higgs,  Socialist  Labor 723 

William  S.  Forman,  Independent  Democrat..  8,102 

Scattering    xo 

1900 

Richard  Yates,  Republican 580,199 

Samuel  Alschuler,   Democrat 518,966 

Visscher  V.  Barnes,  Prohibition 1 5,643 

A.  C.  Vantine,  Peoples 1,106 

Louis  P.  Hoffman,  Socialist  Labor 1,31 9 

Herman  C.  Perry,  Socialist  Democrat 8,611 

John  Cordingly,  United  Christian 334 

Lloyd  G.  Spencer,  Union  Reform 650 

1904 

Charles  S.  Deneen,  Republican 634,029 

Lawrence  B.  Stringer,  Democrat 334,$8o 


Appendix  377 


Robert  H.  Patton,  Prohibition 35,44-0 

John    Collins,    Socialist 59,062 

Philip  Veal,  Socialist  Labor ,  4,379 

James    Hogan,    Peoples 4,364 

lAndrew  G.  Specht,  Continental 780 

1908 

Charles  S.  Deneen,  Republican 550,076 

Adlai   E.   Stevenson,   Democrat 526,912 

Daniel  R.  Sheen,  Prohibition 33,922 

James  H.  Brower,  Socialist 31,293 

George  W.  McCaskrin,  Independence 10,883 

Gustav  A.  Jennings,  Socialist  Labor 1,526 

1912 

Edward  F.  Dunne,  Democrat 443,120 

Charles  S.  Deneen,  Republican 318,469 

Frank  H.  Funk,   Progressive 303,401 

John  C.   Kennedy,  Socialist 78,679 

Edwin  R.  Worrell,  Prohibition 15,231 

John  M.  Francis,  Socialist  Labor 3,980 

1916 

Edward  F.  Dunne,  Democrat 556,654 

Frank  O.  Lowden,   Republican 696,535 

Seymour   Stedman,   Socialist 52,316 

John  R.  Golden,  Prohibition 15,309 

John  M.  Francis,  Socialist  Labor. 1,739 

1920 

Len  Small,  Republican 1,243,148 

James  Hamilton   Lewis,   Democrat 73i,55i 

Andrew   Lafin,    Socialist 58,998 

James  H.  Woertendyke,  Prohibition . 9,876 


37 8  The  Story  of  Illinois 

John  H.  Walker,  Farmer  Labor 56,480 

Lewis  D.  Spaulding,  Single  Tax 930 

John  M.  Francis,  Socialist  Labor 3,020 

John  Maynard  Harlan,  Harding-Coolidge  Re- 
publican     , 5,985 

Harrison   Parker,    Cooperative 1,260 

Parke  Longworth,  Liberal 357 


POPULATION   OF  ILLINOIS   EACH   CENSUS, 
1 790- 1 920 

1790  

1 800  

1810  12,282 

1820  55>i62 

1830  157,445 

1840  476,183 

1850  851,470 

i860  1,711,951 

1870  2,539,891 

1880  3,077,871 

1890  3,826,351 

1900  4,821,550 

1910  5,638,591 

1920  6,485,280 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Adams,  Charles  Francis,  296. 
Adams,  John  Quincy,  113,  114, 

150,  151,  152,  153,  154,  156, 

158,  277. 
Addams,  Jane,  307,  323. 
Aisne-Marne    Offensive,    1918, 

337- 
Alabama,  118. 
Albany,  9,  20. 
Allen,  J.  C,  195. 
Allouez,  Father  Claude,  13,  99. 
Alschuler,   Samuel,   306. 
Altgeld,  John  P.,  279,  303,  304, 

305,  35o. 

Alton,  134,  180,  181,  193,  194, 
238,  363 ;  antislavery  society 
organized  at,  217;  Lovejoy 
seeks  refuge  in,  215-216. 

Alton  Observer,  215. 

American  Library  Association, 

332- 
American    Protective    League, 

325. 

American  Revolution,  23,  24, 
62;  close  of  the,  51,  65,  81; 
on  the  frontier,  46-56. 

Anderson,  Major,  251. 

Antislavery  movement,  in  Illi- 
nois, 215-218. 

Arbeiter  Zeitung,  278. 

Arkansas,  country  of,  5,  15,  20. 

Armour  Institute,  358. 

Army  of  Occupation,  337. 

Art  Institute  of  Chicago,  361. 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  85,  86. 

Astoria,  86. 


Astor's  American  Fur  Com- 
pany, 85,  86,  92. 

Atlanta,  250,  263,  264. 

Aurora,    194. 

Aurora  Beacon,  212. 

Australian  Ballot  Act,  1891, 
315. 

Axley,  James,   134. 

Baccarat  sector,  337. 

Baker,  E.  D.,  165,  167,  223. 

Baldwin,  Theron,  140. 

Baltimore,    123. 

Banking  system,  in  the  West, 
124-126;  in  Illinois,  126-127, 
177-178,  206-207,  353,  354- 

Baptist  Church,  in  the  Illinois, 

99,  133- 

Bardstown,  Kentucky,  137. 

Bates,  Edward,  242. 

Bathurst,  Lord,  80. 

Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana,  261. 

Batts,  Virginia  explorer,  19. 

Baude,  Governor  Louis  de, 
Comte  de  Frontenac,  5,  8,  10. 

Baynton,  Wharton  and  Mor- 
gan,   36,   43. 

Beardstown,  202. 

Bedford,  Duke  of,  30. 

Beecher,  Edward,  140. 

Belgium,  321. 

Bell,  John,  243,  244. 

Bellefontaine,  56,  59. 

Belleville,  202,    339. 

Belmont,  260,  262,  263. 

Bennett,  John  C,  187. 


38i 


382 


Index 


Bentley,  Thomas,  50,  57. 
Benton,  Thomas  Hart,  131. 
Beveridge,  Governor,  297. 
Biggs,  William,  103. 
Biloxi,  Mississippi,  13. 
Birkbeck,     Morris,     in,     112, 

129. 
Bishop  Hill,  198. 
Bissell,  William  H.,  208,  220, 

226,    227,    231,   245. 
Blackburn  College,  135,  140. 
Black  Hawk,  Indian  Chief,  95, 

170,  171,  172. 
Black    Hawk    War,    170,    171, 

172. 
Black  Laws  of  1853,  249,  250. 
BJackweJl,  R.  S.,  231. 
Blaine,  James  G.,  301. 
Blainville,  Celeron  de,  20. 
Bloomington,  231. 
Bloiiin,  Daniel,  37,  40. 
Bond,   Shadrach,   Jr.,    56,    102, 

105,   112,  113. 
Bond,    Shadrach,   Sr.,   98,    102, 

103. 
Boone,  Daniel,  37. 
Boston  Tea  Party,  1773,  43. 
Bouquet,  Colonel,  75. 
Bowman,  Colonel  John,  54. 
Bradley     Polytechnic     School, 

358. 
Breckenridge,    John     C,    243, 

244. 
Breese,   Sidney,   192,  227,  231, 

237- 
Briand,       Monseigneur      Jean 

Olivier,   Bishop    of    Quebec, 

39,  40,  52. 
Browne,  Thomas  C,  no. 
Browning,  Orville  H.,  166-167, 

241-248,  251,  267. 


Bryan,  William  Jennings,  305, 
306. 

Buchanan,  James,  231,  234, 
236,  237,  241. 

Buena  Vista,  220. 

Bulger,  Lieutenant,  90. 

Bull  Run,  battle  of,  257;  sec- 
ond  battle   of,  263. 

Burlington,  194. 

Byrd,  William,   19. 

Cahokia,  13,  16,  38,  41,  53,  55, 

56,  59,  97,  137- 
Cairo,   14,   180,    192,  202,   229, 

249,  259. 
Cain  Bulletin,  297. 
Calhoun,    John    C.,    113,    150, 

151,  152. 
California,  60,  196,  222. 
Camp  Dodge,  335. 
Camp  Douglas,  249. 
Camp    Grant,    332,    335,    338, 

339. 
Camp  Logan,  335. 
Camp  Taylor,  335. 
Canada,  5,   10,  17,  20,  27,  28, 

29,  43,  48,  60,  63,  69,  84,  85, 

88,  90,  92,  102. 
Carbondale,   358. 
Carlin,  Thomas,  160,  164,  183. 
Carmi,  122. 
Carthage,  187,  188. 
Cartwright,  Peter,  134,   135. 
Casey,  Zadoc,  161. 
Cass,   General  Lewis,  95,  172, 

221. 

Catholic  Church,  in  the  Illi- 
nois, 136,  137;  in  the  West, 
6. 

Cerre,  French  settler,  50,  52, 
58. 

Cerro  Gordo,  220. 


Index 


383 


Cession  Treaties  with  Sac  and 

Fox  Indians,  92,  93. 
Champagne-Marne   Defensive, 

1918,  337- 
Chanute  Field,  339. 
Charleston,  Illinois,  238,  358. 
Charleston,     South     Carolina, 

243. 
Charleston,  West  Virginia,  47. 
Chateau  Thierry,  337. 
Chattanooga,  261. 
Chicago,  76,  82,  89,  92,  137, 
165,  167,  170,  172,  174,  r75> 
176,  184,  192,  194,  J98,  i99> 
200,  202,  203,  204,  206,  208, 
217,  222,  223,  224,  225,  228, 
229,  242,  249,  273,  277,  283, 
284,  286,  300,  303,  307,  3IO> 
311,  362;  civil  service  sys- 
tem in,  314;  cultural  institu- 
tions of,  360-361 ;  destroyed 
by  fire  of  1871,  291,  292;  de- 
velopment of,  342-344*  3 53 j 
354;  during  World  war,  323, 
324,  326,  329,  339;  during 
World's  Fair,  1893,  292; 
Haymarket  riot  in,  276-279; 
labor  situation  in,  350-351; 
manufacturing  in,  349;  mis- 
sion at,  13;  population  of, 
201;  post  at,  11;  recreation 
facilities  of,  290,  363-364; 
return  of  Thirty-third  Divi- 
sion to,  338. 

Chicago  Democrat,  168. 

Chicago     Historical      Society, 
361. 

Chicago  Public  Library,  360. 

Chicago  River,  5,  20,  170,  175- 

Chicago   Times,  249,  252. 

Chicago  Tribune,  290. 


Chicago  Weekly  Democrat, 
229. 

Chickamauga,   263. 

Chickasaw  Bluffs,   16. 

Chipilly,   offensive   at,   336. 

Civil  Rights  Bill,  1865,  267, 
268. 

Civil  War,  157,  199,  205,  207, 
210,  213,  214,  233,  274,  276, 
280,  293,  294,  304,  305,  323 ; 
aftermath  of  the,  266-270, 
271 ;  Illinois  in  the,  255-266. 

Clark,  General  William,  70. 

Clark,  George  Rogers,  char- 
acter of,  51;  conquest  of 
Illinois  by,  46,  49,  51,  52- 
56,  62;  reverses  suffered  by, 

54- 

Clay,  Henry,  88,  113,  si4>  I51* 
152,  222,  240. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  306,  350. 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  113,  150, 
151,  176. 

Colbert,  French  minister  of 
finance,   5. 

Cole,  Edward,  Indian  commis- 
sary,  32. 

Coles,  Edward,  no,  in,  112, 
129. 

Columbia  River,  85,  86. 

Columbia,  81. 

Columbus,  Christopher,  2. 

Compromise  of  1820,  see  Mis- 
souri Compromise. 

Compromise  of  1850,  222. 

Congregationalism,  in  Illinois, 
135-136. 

Connelly,  Dr.  John,  47,  48. 

Connecticut,  26,  33,  40,  61,  134, 

345- 
Consolidation  Act  of  1917,  313. 


384 


Index 


Constitution,  of  1848,  210,  213; 

of  1870,  309,  312. 
Constitutional    Convention    of 

18 18,    107. 
Convention    System,    evolution 

of  the,  160,  161. 
Cook,   Daniel   Pope,    106,    ic8, 

112,   113,  114,  n5,  116,  153, 

*54,  155,   178. 
Corinth,  263. 
Craske,  Henry,  302. 
Crawford,    William    H.,    113, 

114,  125,  150,  151,  152,  153, 

154,  *55- 
Crerar  Library,  360. 
Croghan,  George,  32. 
Cuba,  218,   309. 
Cullom,    Shelby   M.,   297,  298, 

300. 
Cumberland  River,  57,  79,  260. 
Cutler,   Manasseh,  65,  66. 

Dallas,  263. 
Danville,  172. 

Dartaguiette,  Pierre,  16,  22. 
Davis,  Judge  David,  296,  298. 
Debs,  Eugene  V.,  350. 
Decatur,  181,  229,  231. 
De  Kalb,  358. 
Delaware,  61,  62. 
Democratic    party,     116,     158- 

159,  161,  162,  163,  164,  230; 

disaffection     in      the,      250; 

principles  of  the,  167;  revolt 

in  the,  221. 
Democratic  Review,  The,  223. 
Deneen,  Charles  S.,  306,  308. 
Detroit,  29,  44,  47,  48,  53,  54, 

55,  69,  70,  71,  73,  77,  82,  89. 
Dickey,  Colonel  T.  Lyle,  267- 

268. 
Dodge,  John,  57,  58,  59. 


Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  123,  161, 
166,  167,  185,  192,  205,  238, 
239,  242,  246,  252,  269;  ac- 
complishment of,  247;  aided 
by  Matteson,  209;  advocates 
Homestead  measure,  224; 
assists  in  passage  of  Com- 
promise of  1850,  222;  breaks 
with  President  Buchanan, 
236;  character  of,  237;  final 
struggle  of,  233-234;  forces 
passage  of  Kansas  Nebraska 
Act,  225-226 ;  nominee  for 
president,  223  ;  opposition  in 
Illinois  to  leadership  of, 
227;  presidential  candidate, 
243,  244;  re-elected  United 
States  senator,  241 ;  rise  in 
politics  of  the,  161-162;  wins 
United  States  senatorship, 
240. 

Dred  Scott  Decision,  233,  234, 
243. 

Duncan,  Joseph,  115,  158,  160, 
165,  181,  184. 

Dunmore,  Lord,  royal  gover- 
nor  of  Virginia,  43,   47. 

Dunmore's  War,  46,  47,  51. 

Dunne,  Edward  F.,  308. 

Eden,  John  R.,  270. 
Edgar,  John,  59,  98,  101,  102. 
Edwards,  Cyrus,   160. 
Edwards,     Ninian,     105,     106, 

109,  no,   113,  114,  115,  116, 

121,   155,   160,  289. 
Edwardsville,    121,    126,    127, 

177. 
Edwardsville  Spectator,  in. 
Egypt,  section  of  Illinois,  245, 

249. 
Eighty-eighth  Division,  335. 


Index 


85 


Eighty- fourth  Division,  335. 
Eighty-sixth      Division,      335, 

339- 

England,  21,  22,  23,  24,  26,  31, 

33,  44,  60,  63,  321. 
Esperance   Souain   Sector,  337. 
Essey  Panne3  Sector,  337. 
Europe,  1,  4,  117,  *99>  255,  321, 

323,  324,  359- 
Evanston,  314. 
Ewing,  William  Lee  D.,  130. 

Fallarn,  Virginia  explorer,  19. 

Farmar,  Major  Robert,  35. 

Farnsworth,  Elon  H.,  263. 

Farragut,  Admiral,  250. 

Federal   Constitution,   118. 

Federal  Food  and  Fuel  Ad- 
ministration, 325,  326,  327- 
328. 

Fell,  Jesse  W.,  296. 

Field,  Alexander  P.,  164. 

Field  Columbian  Museum,  360, 
361. 

Fifer,  "Private  Joe,"   303. 

First  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion, 248. 

Fisher,  Dr.  George,  102,  103. 

Florida,  26,  29,  49,  60,  150. 

Forbes,  Captain  Hugh,  35. 

Ford,  Thomas,  160,  184,  185, 
187. 

Fort  Crevecoeur,  9,  10. 

Fort  Dearborn,  76,  82,  92,  170; 
massacre  at,  89. 

Fort   de   Chartres,    15,    16,   21, 

32,  42,  49- 
Fort  Donelson,  260,   262,   263, 

265,  266. 
Fort  Frontenac,  8. 
Fort  Gage,  21,  42. 
Fort  Harmar,  71. 


Fort  Henry,  260,  265. 
Fort  Jefferson,  54. 
Fort  Madison,  82. 
Fort  Massiac,  21,  52,  97. 
Fort  Pitt,  29,  32,  47,  48. 
Fort  Sackville,  54. 
Fort  St.  Louis,  10,  11. 
Fort  Sheridan,  332,  337,  339. 
Fort  Sumter,  245,  251. 
Fort  Wayne,  82. 
Fort  William,  79. 
Fox  River,   11. 
Fox  Indians,  15,  92,  93,  170. 
France,   5,    10,   15,   18,   19,   21, 
22,  23,  44,  60,  61,  63,  71,  334, 

335,    336,    34*>- 
Freedman's   Bureau   Bill,   267, 

268. 
Freeport,  194,  238,  239. 
Fremont,    General,    231,    247, 

249,  250. 
French    and    Indian   War,    21, 

26,  118. 
French,    Governor,     195,    197, 

208. 
Frontenac,        Governor,        see 

Baude,   Louis   de. 
Fulton,   194. 
Funk,    Frank,   308. 

Galena,  172,  192,  264. 

Galesburg,  194,  238. 

Garfield,  James  A.,  300. 

Garrison,  Abolitionist,  218. 

Genius  of  Liberty,  217. 

Genius  of  Universal  Emanci- 
pation, 217. 

Georgia,  19,  113,  "8,  150,  261. 

Germany,  198,  321,  322,  323, 
325,  340. 

Gettysburg,  263. 


386 


Ind 


ex 


Gibault,  Father  Pierre,  39,  40, 

52,  58. 
Gibraltar,  60. 
Girtvs,    British    refugees,    47, 

48. 
Golconda,    settlement    in    the 

Illinois,    122. 
Gordon,  Captain,  33. 
Grafton,  Duke  of,  35. 
Grand  Ruisseau,  settlement  at, 

57,  59- 
Grant,    Ulysses    S.,    260,    261, 

300;     career     of,     264-265; 

presidential      administration 

of,      295,      296 ;      re-elected 

president,   297. 
Gravier,  Father  Jacques,  13. 
Gray,  Captain,  81, 
Great  Britain,   18,  23,  28,    60, 

63,   68,   70,   71,   76,    87,   218, 

219,  322,  326. 
Great  Lakes    Naval   Training 

Station,    332,    338. 
Great  Miami  River,  72. 
Greeley,  Horace,  236,  242,  296. 
Green  Bay,  4,  92. 
Grey,  Sir  Edward,  321. 
Grierson's   Raid,    exploit   dur- 
ing Civil  War,  261. 
Griffon,  9. 

Griswold,  Stanley,   105. 
Groseiliiers,  early  explorer,  4, 

18. 
Guadeloupe,  27. 
Gulf  of  Mexico,   5. 

Haines,  E.  M.,  301. 
Hall,  James,  141,  151. 
Hamel,   battle   at,  336. 
Hamilton,  Henry,  48,  53,  54. 
Hamilton,  John  M.,  300. 
Hansen,  Nicholas,  no. 


Hardin,  John  J.,  165,  167,  220. 
Harmar,  General,  58,  72. 
Harper,  William  Rainey,  359. 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  303. 
Harrison,  Carter,  300,  301. 
Harrison,  William  Henry,  86, 

87,    90,    100,    101,   102,    103, 

163,  164,  187. 
Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  298. 
Hayes,  S.  S.,  294,  298. 
Haymarket  riot,  The,  276-279. 
Helm,  Captain,  53. 
Henderson,  Fachard,  43. 
Hennepin,   217,  284. 
Henry,  General  James  D.,  171. 
Hillsborough,  Earl  of,  29,   35, 

41,  42,  43. 
Hise,  John,  297. 
Hovey,    president    of    Illinois 

State   Normal,  259. 
Hubbard,  Adolphus  F.,  no. 
Hudson  Bay,  19,  77. 
Hughes,  Charles  H.,  308. 
Hull,  General,  89. 
Hulbut,  Stephen  A.,  263. 
Huron  Indians,  3. 

Iberville  River,  41. 
Iberville,  Sieur  d',  13. 
Illinois  College,  135,  140,  288, 

360. 
Illinois  Emigrant,  106. 
Illinois  Gazette,  141. 
Illinois  Herald,  106. 
Illinois  Indians,  9,  13,  170. 
Illinois    Industrial    University, 

288. 
Illinois  Intellige?uer,  111. 
Illinois  River,  6,  10,  11,  41,  43, 

76,  85,  97,  123,  129,  169,  174, 

180,  192,  200,  283,  284. 
Illinois  State  Register,  166,  168. 


Index 


337 


Illinois  Territory,  96,  98,  104, 
105,   121. 

Illinoistown,  193. 

Indiana,  15,  64,  85,  104,  118, 
119,  176,  180,  181,  194- 

Indiana  Territory,  86,  96,  97, 
98,  100,  101,  105. 

Internal  Improvement  System, 
of  Illinois,  181-182. 

Invitation  Serieuse  aux  Habi- 
tants des  Illinois,  4°- 

Iowa,  335- 

Ireland,  24,  26,  118. 

Iroquois  Indians,  3,  5,  9,  10> 
20,  42,  61,  71. 

Italy,  321. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  113,  "4* 
146,  147.  *S°,  *$h  *52,  *53, 
154,  155,  156,  iS7,  159,  162, 
163,  167,  168,  176,  226,  236. 

Jacksonville,  Illinois,  162,  181. 

Japan,  340. 

Jay's  Treaty,  75,  77,  83,  9*- 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  52,  64,  66y 
67,  86,  277. 

Jesuits,  the,  in  the  Illinois,  3,  4, 
5,  7,  11,   12,   13,  16,   18,  38, 

39- 
Jewish  Welfare  Board,  332. 
Joliet,  194. 
Joliet,   Louis,   5,   6. 
Jones,  Jenkin  Lloyd,  323. 
Jones,  John  Rice,  103. 
Jones,  Michael,  104. 
Jones,  Obediah,  105. 
Jones,  Rice,  104. 
Jonesboro,  198,  238. 
Johnson,     Andrew,    266,    267, 

268. 
Johnson,  A.  M.,  162. 


Johnson,   Sir  William,   30,   32, 

42. 
Judd,  N.  B.,  244. 

Kane,     Elias     Kent,     105-106, 

112,  113,  121,  156. 
Kankakee  River,  169. 
Kansas,  197,  235,  237,  238,  239, 

285. 
Kansas  City,  353. 
Kansas     Nebraska     Act,     225, 

226,    233. 
Kansas  Territory,  226. 
Kaskaskia,   13,   16,   21,  42,  49, 

52,  53,  56,  57,  58,  59,  96,  97, 

101,  104,  106,  121,  127. 
Kaskaskia  River,  180. 
Kentucky,   37,   42,  43,   48,    51, 

62,  64,  70,  88,  105,  113,  118, 

119,  121,  137,  166,  171,  l8l, 
240,  258,  259,  260,  263,  320, 
335- 

Kickapoo  Indians,  93,  170. 

Kimmel,  Peter,  106. 

King  George's  War,  2744- 
1748,  20. 

Kinney,  William,  112,  156, 
158,  179. 

Knights  of  Columbus,  332. 

Know  Nothing  party,  char- 
acter of  the,  230-231 ;  forma- 
tion of  the,  227. 

Knox  College,  13s,  136,  140, 
288,  360. 

Knox,  James,  229. 

Koerner,  Gustavus,  193,  231, 
296. 

La  Balme,  French  officer,  55, 
60. 

La  Barre,  Governor  of  Can- 
ada, 10. 


Index 


La  Clede,  Pierre,  33. 

La     Forest,    follower    of    La 

Salle,  11,  12. 
Lafayette,  Indiana,  15. 
La  Grange,  early  settler,  38. 
Lake  Champlain,  70. 
Lake   Erie,    5,   20,  49,   63,   89, 

176. 
Lake  Huron,  63,  79,  90. 
Lake  Michigan,   8,  20,  85,  92, 

107,  123,  170,  184,  192. 
Lake  of  the  Woods,  69. 
Lake    Ontario,    8,    49,    63,    70, 

87,  89-  m 

Lake  Peoria,  9,  11. 

Lake  Superior,  4,  63,  69,  79. 

Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  37. 

La  Pointe,  settlement  at,  4. 

La  Porte,  194. 

La  Salle,  Sieur  Robert  Cava- 
lier de,  12,  13,  22;  explora- 
tions of,  7-10;  death  of,  11. 

Latter  Day  Saints,  186. 

Laurence,   C.  B.,  283. 

Law,  John,   14-15. 

Lecompton  Constitution,  233, 
235,    236. 

Lewis  Institute,   358. 

Lewis,  James  Hamilton,  308. 

Lewis,  Sinclair,  364. 

Lewistown,  362. 

Liberty  Loans,  329-331. 

liberty  party,  formation  of 
the,  217;  strength  of,  218. 

Lillard,  Joseph,  99. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  107,  123, 
165,  167,  185,  215,  221,  229, 
233,  236,  237,  239,  241,  244, 
247,  248,  250,  254,  256,  266, 
267,  269 ;  achievements  of, 
253;    assassination    of,    252; 


attitude  toward  Mexican 
War,  220;  candidate  for  re- 
election to  the  presidency, 
250;  the  presidency,  242- 
243 ;  United  States  senate, 
238-240;  conservatism  of, 
249;  deals  with  Rebellion, 
245;  early  career  of,  181; 
policies  of,  251;  serves  in 
Black  Hawk  War,  172. 

Lincoln-Douglas  debates,  123, 
235,    238,    240. 

Lindsay,  Nicholas  Vachel,  362. 

Lisa,  Manuel,  85. 

Logan,  John  A.,  246,  250,  251, 
265,  266,  298;  candidate  for 
United  States  senate,  301, 
302;  character  of,  295; 
Civil  War,  Record  of,  263; 
elected:  Congressman,  267- 
268;  United  States  senator, 
294>  303 ;  policies  of,  293 ; 
supremacy  in  Republican 
party,  299-300. 

London,  28,  78,  85,  183,  278. 

Lord,  Captain  Hugh,  49,  50. 

Lorimer,  William,  307. 

Louis  XIV,  5,  10,  12. 

Louisbourg,  14,  21. 

Louisiana,  262. 

Louisiana  Territory,  13,  15,  16, 
71,  83,  85,104,  109,  226. 

Louisville,  Kentucky,  52,  249. 

Lovejoy,  Elijah  P.,  influence 
of,  215-217;  murder  of,  216. 

Lowden,  Frank  O.,  308,  309, 
325. 

Lundy,  Benjamin,  217. 

Lunevi!!c:  sector,   337. 

Lusitania,    322. 

Luxemburg,   337. 


Index 


389 


McClellan,  General,  250. 

McClernand,  John  A.,  166, 
222,  231,  246,  262,  265. 

McCormick,  Cyrus  H.,  199. 

McCormick  harvester,  revolu- 
tionizes agriculture  in  Illi- 
nois, 198. 

McDonell,  Lieutenant  Colonel, 

9*t   94,    95- 
McKee,  Alexander,  47. 
McKendree  College,  140. 
Mackenzie,  George,  81. 
Mackinac,  7,  20,  50,  71,  77,  79, 

80,  82,  89,  90,  91,  93. 
Mackinaw  River,  97. 
McKinley,  William,  306. 
McLean,   John,   106,    108,   112, 

113. 
McPherson,    General,    2-63. 
Macomb,    358. 
Madison,  James,   77,  87,  89. 
Maine,  65. 

Maintenon,  Madame  de,  12. 
Merrimec,  post  at,   11. 
Marion,  245. 
Marquette,   Father  Jacques,   5, 

6,  7,  *3>  19,  22,  99,  136,  172. 
Marquette  River,  7. 
Marx,  Karl,  276. 
Maryland,  61,  62,  119,  320,  345. 
Massachusetts,  26,  61,  113,  282, 

345- 
Masters,  Edgar  Lee,  362. 
Matagorda  Bay,   11. 
Matteson,    Joel    A.,    209,   223, 

229. 
Mattoon,  198. 

Maumee  River,  20,  72,  73,  74. 
May,  William  L.,   161. 
Memphis,  263. 
Menard,  Pierre,  85,  102,    105, 

IZ2. 


Mendota,  194. 

Methodism,  in  Illinois,  99,  134- 

*35: 
Meurin,  Father,  35,  39,  40,  99. 
Meuse-Argonne     Offensive, 

1918,   337- 
Meuse  sector,   336. 
Mexico,  219,  220,  222. 
Mexican   War,   220,   221,  264. 
Michigan,  64,  86,  95,  228,  339, 

345- 

Michillimackinac,  93. 

Military  Tract,    128,   167. 

Milliken    University,   360. 

Minnesota,    283. 

Mississippi,  118,  176. 

Mississippi  River,  3,  5,  8,  9, 
10,  11,  13,  15,  16,  19,  20,  21, 
23,  33,  37,  38,  41,  48,  49,  52, 
54,  57,  7i,  77,  79,  82,  85,  92, 
93,  104,  124,  129,  169,  170, 
171,  172,  174,  187,  192,  193, 
200,  207,  232,  259,  283,  284. 

Missouri,    106,    108,    118,    131, 

186,  242,  247,  257,  260,  263. 
Missouri     Compromise,     1820, 

97,   109,   182,   214,  225,  226, 

227,   233,  234,  250. 
Missouri  River,  13,  16,  17,  82, 

84,  225. 
Mobile,  Alabama,  12,  250. 
Monbreun,  Sieur  Timothe  de, 

57- 
Monroe,    James,    64,    91,    113, 

114,  150,  153. 
Montreal,  5,  7,  12,  14,  27,  44, 

48,  69,  78,  79,  80,  85. 
Moore,  James  B.,  56,  no. 
Morgan,    George,    36,    37,   38, 

48,  49. 
Mormonism,    in    Illinois,    186, 

187,  188. 


390 


Index 


Morrison,  William  B.,  85,  301, 

302. 
Movill  Land  Grant  Act,  1862, 

287. 
Mt.  Carmel,  180. 
Murray,  William,  37,  43,  50. 
Muskingum  River,  65,  74. 

Nashville,  Tennessee,  57,  79, 
148,  264. 

National  Guard,  units  of,  333. 

National  Security  League,  325. 

Nauvoo,   186,  187,  189,  198. 

Nawvoo  Expositor,  187. 

Nebraska,  197,  285. 

Nebraska  Territory,  226. 

Newberry  Library,  360. 

New  Design,  99,  133. 

New  England,  65,  66,  119,  132, 
135,  136,  140,  169,  176,  198, 
320. 

New  France,  3,  7. 

New  Jersey,  61,  345. 

New  Madrid,  263. 

New  Mexico,  222. 

New  Orleans,  16,  20,  21,  33, 
36,  39,  41,  48,  49,  51,  52,  55, 
80,  122,  123,  124,  146,  148, 
152,  154,  200,  261. 

New  River,  19. 

New  Salem,  181-182. 

New  York,  city  of,  66,  85,  86, 
113,  n8s  119,  123,  168,  179, 
183,  201,  257,  338,  361;  state 
of,  61,  62,  153,  163,  176,  345. 

Niagara,  29,  70,  71,  83. 

Nicolet,  Jean,  2,  3. 

Norfolk,    123. 

North,  Lord,  63. 

North  Carolina,  43,  61,  119. 

North  Sea,  25. 


Northwest  Ordinance,  1787,  34, 
56,  58,  64,  66,  67,  96,  97,  98, 
102,  107,  109,   184,  219,  358. 

Northwest  Territory,  59,  68, 
96,  97,  98,  99,   100.  ^ 

Northwestern  University,  287, 
288,  340,   360. 

Norton,  Jesse  O.,  229. 

Nova  Scotia,  29. 

Odin,  198. 

Oglesby,  Richard  J.,  56,  263, 
265,  266,  268,  294*;  candidate 
for  governor,  296,  300; 
elected  governor,  297. 

Ohio,  118,  186,  264,  345. 

Ohio  River,  16,  20,  26,  32,  36, 
43,  5i,  52,  54,  64,  65,  68,  70, 
72,  74,  97,  "9,  180,  192,  259. 

Ohio  Territory,  20,  71,  72,  86, 
104,  118- 

Oise-Aisn«      Offensive,      1918, 

335- 
Old  Whigs,   English   political 

party,  28,   31. 
Olney   Times,  241. 
Omaha,  253. 
One  Hundred  and  Fcrty-ninth 

Field  Artillerj'-,  337-338. 
One  Hundred  and  Thirty-first 

Infantry,  336. 
Oquawka,   174. 
Ottawa,  202,  228,  238. 
Ottawa  Free   Trader,  196. 
Ottawa  River,  79. 
Ouiatenon,   15,   44. 

Palmer,  John  M.,  211,  227,  231, 
237,  251,  262,  265,  266,  268, 
270,  286,  293,  296,  298,  303. 

Palmyra    New    York,    186. 

Paraguay,   3. 


Index 


39i 


Paris,   14. 

Parsons,  Albert  A.,   277,   278. 

Paxton  Record,  207-208. 

Peck,  Ebenezer,  242. 

Peck,   John    Mason,    134,    216. 

Pecks,  Rock  Spring  Seminary, 

140. 
Pennsylvania,   2«6,    33,  36,   37, 

45,   118,   119,   151,  153,  244, 

345- 
Peoria,  76,   92,   174,   179,   181, 

203,  229,  353,  3^1,  363. 
Philadelphia,  35,  37,   123. 
Phillipps,  Joseph,  no. 
Pickering,  General,  195. 
Pierce,  Franklin,  224. 
Pike's  Peak,  197. 
Pittsburg,  36. 
Pitt,  William,    31,   34"35- 
Poincare,  President  of  France, 

321. 
Polk,  James  K.,  219,  220,  221. 
Pollock,   Oliver,   52-53,  55. 
Pontiac,  Indian   Chief,  21,  28, 

29,  41. 
Pope,  General  John,  2*63,  265. 
Pope,  Nathaniel,  105,  106,  107. 
Population,    in    Illinois,    272- 

273,  344-345- 
Potomac,   Army   of   the,  263. 
Porto  Rico,  309. 
Pottawattomies,     Indians,     93, 

170. 
Prairie  du  Chien,  79,  90,  92. 
Prairie  du  Rocher,  16. 
Presbyterianism,      in     Illinois, 

135- 
Preston,  William,  47. 
Prevost,  Sir  George,  80. 
Price,  Sterling,  247. 
Proclamation  of  1763,  29,   32, 

34,  118. 


Pullman,    George,    352. 
Putnam,  General  Rufus,  65. 

Quebec,   2,   29,   39,  44,  48,   69, 

70. 
Quebec,   Act   of   1774,  43,   44, 

49. 
Quincy,     166,     172,    180,     194, 

202,  203,  226,  229,  238,  283, 

291,  363. 

Radisson,  early  explorer,  4,  18. 

Railroads,  era  of  the,oi8o,  190- 
198;  expansion  of  the,  355- 
356;  problems  of  the,  281- 
283. 

Rainbow  Division,  337. 

Rantoul,  339. 

Red  Cross,  325,  326,  331. 

Reed,  Lieutenant  Colonel  John, 
35,   36. 

Reynard  Indians,  93. 

Renault,  Philippe,  15. 

Republican  party,  299;  begin- 
nings of  the,  226;  dissatis- 
faction with,  305 ;  formation 
of  the,  231,  233;  in  1870, 
293;  rise  of  the,  251. 

Resaca,  263. 

Reynolds,  John,  156,  162,  185, 
218,  227,  231,  237,  251. 

Rhine  River,  337. 

Rhode   Island,    345. 

Richardson,  William  A.,  167, 
222,  226,  231,  248. 

Richmond,  Virginia,  243. 

Robinson,  John  M.,  161. 

Rocheblave,  Philippe  de,  50, 
52. 

Rockford,  174,  228,  258,  339. 

Rockford  College,   360. 

Rock  Island,  92,  171,  174,  207. 


392 


Index 


Rock  River,  180. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  306,  307, 

308,   333. 
Rumsey,  James,  37. 
Russia,  4,  321,  323. 

Sac  Indians,  92,  170. 

St.  Clair,  General  Arthur,  49, 

59,  72,  73,  96,  97,  100. 
Ste.  Genevieve,  32,  50. 
St.  Joseph,  fort  at,  55. 
St.  Joseph  River,  8-9,  20. 
St.  Louis,    32,    33,    55,  85,   92, 

93,  109,  137,  !7o,  192,  193, 
194,  200,  215,  264,   329. 

St.  Lusson,  French  explorer,  5, 
19. 

St.  Mihiel  Offensive,  1918,  337. 

St.  Philips,  16. 

Salem,  Massachusetts,   81. 

Salvation   Army,  334. 

Sandburg,    Carl,   362. 

Sandusky,  82. 

Sangamon  River,  169. 

Santa  Fe,  220. 

Sault  Ste.  Marie,   5,  19,  79. 

Savanna,    174. 

Scott  Field,  339. 

Scully,  William,   285. 

Seminole  Indians,  150. 

Seven   Years  War,   31,   118. 

Seward,  William  H.,  241-242, 

243. 
Seymour,  Horatio,  269,  270. 
Shaw,  John,  no,  in. 
Shawnee  Indians,  170. 
Shawneetown,    101,    106,    109, 

119,  121,  126,   127,  177. 
Shelburne,  Earl  of,  28,  29,  32, 

33,  34,  42,  44,  63. 
Shenandoah  Valley,  250. 
Sheridan,  General,  250. 


Sherman,  General,  250,  261, 
263,  264. 

Sherman,  L.  Y.,  308. 

Shields,  James,  220,  222,  226. 

Shiloh,  261,  262,  263. 

Shurtleff   College,    134,    140. 

Singleton,   J.   W.,  231. 

Slavery  issue,  168,  190;  begin- 
nings of  the,  215-232;  cli- 
max of  the,  233-254;  during 
early  statehood,  108,  in, 
113,  115;  importance  of  the, 
96 ;  in  Northwest  Territory, 
64,  67. 

Sloo,  Thomas,  Jr.,   115. 

Smith,   Captain   John,  2. 

Small,  Len,   308. 

Smith,  George,  206. 

Smith,  James,  99. 

Smith,  Joseph,  186,  187,  189. 

Snyder,  Adam  W.,  160,  161. 

South  America,  321. 

South  Carolina,  113,  143,  167. 

Spain,  60,  62,  63,  71. 

Spanish-American  War,  309, 
362. 

Springfield,  162,  163,  164,  180, 
181,  182,  195,  202,  203,  228, 
229,  235,  244,  252,  264,  301, 
314,  361,  362,  363. 

Starved   Rock,  10. 

State  Council  of  Defense,  325, 
326,  329. 

State  Register,  195. 

Stephenson,  James  W.,   160. 

Stevenson,  Adlai  E.,  306. 

Steward,  Lewis,  297. 

Stirling,  Captain  Thomas,  32, 

35,  38. 
Stone,  Dan,  215. 
Stone's  River,  263. 
Stringer,  Lawrence  B.,   306. 


Index 


393 


Stuart,  Alexander,  105. 
Stuart,  John,  42,  161,  244. 
Student  Array  Training  Corps, 

339- 
Sturtevant,  Julian  M.,   140. 

Taft,  William  H.,  306,  308. 

Talon,  Jean,  5. 

Taraawa  Indians,  9,  13. 

Taney,  Chief  Justice,  234. 

Tanner,  John  A.,  306. 

Taylor,  Zachary,   50,  221. 

Tecumseh,  Indian  Chief,  86, 
87,  88. 

Tennessee,  64,  113,  118,  119, 
148,  240,  243,  258,  261. 

Tennessee  River,  13,  19,  21, 
57,  260. 

Terre  Haute,  193,  194. 

Texas,  219,  220,  262,  335; 
colony  of,  11. 

Thames  River,    Canada,  90. 

Thirteenth  Regiment  of  Rail- 
road Engineers,  335. 

Thirty-third  Division,  335-337, 

338. 
Thomas,   General    George  H., 

263,  264. 
Thomas,    Jesse    B.,    104,    105, 

109,  ii2,  113. 
Thomas,  Theodore,  361. 
Three  Hundred  and  Seventieth 

Infantry,  335. 
Todd,  John,  53,   56. 
Todd,  Mary,   182. 
Tonti,  Henri  de,  9,  10,  11,  12, 

22. 
Treaty  of  1783,  46,  72,  77. 
Treaty  of  18 1 6,  170. 
Treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  1768, 

42,  74. 
Treaty  of  Ghent,  91,  118. 


Treaty  of  Greenville,  76. 
Treaty  of  Paris,  1763,  21,   30, 

83. 
Treaty    of    Utrecht,    1713,    19. 
Treaty  of  Versailles,  340. 
Troyon   sector,   336. 
Trumbull,    Lyman,     185,    227, 

229,  231,  237,  239,  242,  247, 

248,  257,  268,  269,  296,  300. 
Turner,  George,  97. 
Turner,  Jonathan  B.,  140,  223, 

286,  287. 
Tyler,  John,  163,  164. 

United  States,  34,  48,  51,  60, 
61,  62,  63,  64,  67,  68-95,  96, 
147,  148,  149,  150,  167,  171, 
173,  191,  199,  222,  234,  251, 
254,  255,  262,  282,  299,  320, 
323,  337,  340,  34i,  352,  359, 
361. 

University  of  Chicago,  287, 
340,   358-359,   360. 

University  of  Illinois,  288,  340, 
359- 

Urbana,  211,  339. 

Utah,  222. 

Utica,  9. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,   150,  160, 

162,    219,   221. 
Vandalia,  43,   128,  181. 
Vandalia  Land  District,  130. 
Vasco  da  Gama,  2. 
Vera   Cruz,  220. 
Vermont,   70,    162. 
Versailles,  17,  45. 
Vicksburg,  261,  262,  263. 
Vienna,  settlement  at,  122. 
Vincennes,   15,   39,  44,   49,   52, 

53,  54,  56,  101,  137,  193. 


394 


Index 


Virginia,  2,  19,  26,  33,  37,  43, 
4-5,  5i,  52,  53,  61,  119,  153, 
240. 

Viviat,  French  settler,  50. 

Volstead  Act,  316. 

Wabash  River,  20,  38,  41,  43, 

54,    72,    87,    119,    123,    169, 

180,  232. 
Warsaw,  settlement  at,  92, 174. 
War  of  1812,  88,  106,  118,  128, 

146,  148,  149,  174.  221. 
War    of    Spanish    Succession, 

1702-1713,  14- 
Warren,  Hooper,  111. 
Wrashburn,  Elihu  B.,  229,  236. 
Washington,   D.   C,   146,    i47> 

148,   150,  151,  156,  223,  234, 

286,  340. 
Washington,    George,    21,    51, 

65,  152. 

Washington  Globe,  167. 

Waukegan,   314. 

Wayne,  Major  General  An- 
thony, 74,  75,  76. 

Weaver,  William  H.,  302. 

Webb,  E.  B.,  231. 

Webster,  Daniel,  164. 

Wentworth,  John,  165,  168, 
192,  205,  218,  220,  221,  223, 
224,  226,  227,  229,  231,  237, 
248,  296. 

Western  Citizen,  217. 

Western    Intelligencer,    106. 

West  Indies,  27. 

West  Virginia,  47. 


Wharton,   Samuel,  43. 

Whig  party,  disappearance  of 
the,  231,  250;  in  Illinois, 
115,  116,  160,  162,  163,  164, 
165,  166,  182,  218,  220,  227, 
228. 

White,  Hugh,   163. 

Wilkinson,  General  James,  88. 

Willing,   Captain   George,   48. 

Wilkins,  Lieutenant  Colonel 
John,  35,  37,  38. 

Wilmot  Proviso,  221,  223. 

Wilson,    Woodrow.,    308,    322, 

323,  34i- 
Winnebago  Indians,  170. 
Winnebago  War,  170. 
Winston,  Richard,  56,  57. 
Wisconsin,    64,    99,    104,    171, 

194,   228,  256,  283,  339- 
Wisconsin  Territory,  171,  184. 
Woodworth,  James  H.,  229. 
Wood,  General,  220. 
World  War,  255,  266;  Illinois 

in  the,  320-341. 
Wright,  John,  183. 

Yates,  Richard,  244,  248,  249, 
265. 

Yorktown,  victory  of,  63. 

Young,  Brigham,  188. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation,  331-332. 

Young  Woman's  Christian  As- 
sociation,   332. 

Young,  R.  M.,  161. 


